Welcome to Our Dystopia
by Daethtofools
Summary: Welcome to a world, where everything is at peace. There is no war, no senseless fighting, no sadness. Why? Because the world is dead. Post-apocalypse, where people scavenge through garbage and filth, while salvation is right above the clouds...literally.
1. Chapter 1 Another Way To Die

**Author's Note – Greetings, I am Daethtofools. Welcome, to yet another one of our stories of Flipping Tables Productions. This story was inspired by a Disturbed (band) music video called 'Another Way to Die'. The story takes place in a post-apocalyptic Earth, where the rich indulge and abuse the rest of the earth's recourses, and are called 'Lions', while the rest are forced to rummage through the old filth of the world, getting the name: 'Strays', as in stray dogs. To get food and recourses, the scavengers become desperate, and some invent the game Pollice Verso. What the game contains, you will see. Now sit back, and watch the world crumble to dust.**

**5354: (In Chinese) sounds like "not alive, not dead". This often refers to something that is half dead or on the verge of death.**

"_The indulgence of our lives_

_Has cast a shadow on our world._

_Our devotion to our appetites_

_Betrayed us all._

_An apocalyptic plight._

_More destruction will unfold._

_Mother Earth will show her darker side_

_And take her toll._

_It's just another way to die._

_There can be another reason why._

_You know we should have seen it coming._

_Consequences we cannot deny will be revealed in time._

_Glaciers melt as we pollute the sky._

_A sign of devastation coming._

_We don't need another way to die._

_Can we repent in time?"_

_- 'Another Way to Die' by Disturbed_

As the light breeze brushed past, small pieces of trash rolled of the large heaps and hit the sandy ground. The sun hit the filth and trash with unforgiving heat, making the atmosphere dry and stale. Dead trees were scattered everywhere, the source of the thousands of splinters sticking out from the ground. Although the air was still, sounds of fighting and cheering echoed through the garbage mounds.

Strays, as the Lions called them, were men, women, and families that wore old, filthy, tattered clothing. Almost everyone was so thin their skin practically hugged their bones, while others were somewhat healthy but still thin. Some of them went out of the compound every day, scavenging through the mountains of trash and garbage from past generations, hoping to find something to keep them alive.

Children ran around playing with broken toys, such as two wheeled toy cars and a torn up Frisbee. Adults walked around with long sticks to poke through sharp piles, which had broken glass or rusted metal.

The sound of cheering came from compound #5354, one of the 'best' kept compounds for Strays. It used to be a large public pool, but now the water was all dried up, and most of the buildings were in ruined, although the Strays rebuilt them enough to be livable.

There were only two standing buildings: the bath house and the tool shed, both being occupied by Lion hired guards. Small huts made of scraps of aluminum, tattered clothes, and everything the Strays could find were littered throughout the large compound, and small metal stands – which used to be life guard towers – were set up so guards could supervise the Strays.

In the center of the compound was a heavily guarded fenced area, with signs that had different shapes (such as a medium circle, small circle, and square) attached to it. Strays were latched onto the fence like leeches, their arms desperately trying to reach through to the wonderful recourse in the center. Guards armed with anti-matter rifles made sure the Strays wouldn't try to climb over or enter unless the current person's time was up.

A loud buzz rang from the timer inside, and the Strays outside began shouting and pushing to get to the entrance. A young woman, about 14 years of age, squeezed past the others and rushed to the entrance. She was tanned with loose fitting filthy clothes, and seemed to have never had a bath in her life. But, of course, no one but the guards has had a bath at all.

A guard stopped her before entering, and she timidly handed him a rather filthy plastic bowl. He snatched it out of her hand and practically slammed it against a sign, making her flinch. The guard lined the bowl up with the medium circle (which had the words 'Mon. Thurs.' underneath), and when he saw it matched, he tossed it back to her, and flipped the switch next to the sign.

She slowly walked to the center, the people latched to the sides spitting insults and threats at her. She tried her best to ignore their words and approached the rare and heavenly fluid within.

Water.

It was a rather old kiddy pool, with murky, grey water in the center. But, dirty or not, water was water. A rusty streetlight, blinking the color red, stood before the pool, a shattered solar energy panel hanging loosely off of it. Signs all around the pool stated the following:

**CONSERVE WATER**

**DO NOT:**

**Hoard**

**Garden**

**Share**

She knelt by the pool and turned her eyes to the streetlight, eagerly waiting. After a few moments, the red faded and a bright green came to life, and the girl began scooping up the disgusting water and drinking it hastily, drinking as much water as she could.

Only seconds after it turned on, the light buzzed loudly and went back to red. The girl sighed heavily, stood, and walked out of the area sadly.

But, this was not the source of the cheering.

The source of the cheering came from a few yards away, at the dried out rectangular pool. It was 14 by 22 feet pool that was about 8 feet deep. Strays sat on the ledge or on ripped lawn chairs, cheering and screaming. Even a few guards sat by, watching with interest. Betting stands stood nearby, contracted from old plastic folding tables. People betted everything they could from old canned foods, half rotted fruits, old shoes, etc.

The largest lifeguard stand towered over the edge, and a tan burly man sat in it, staring into the pool intently. Long greasy hair hung down his face, large bags underneath his light green eyes.

Inside the dried pools, the ground was coated with dried blood. Crushed skeletons were everywhere. Two opponents stood inside, fighting to the death in the bloody game Pollice Verso.

One opponent was named the Gecko, one of the bone-thin Strays, with bandages on his forearms and thighs. His face was covered with a torn green mask, and wore faded green swim shorts. He equipped a rusty metal rod from an old broom, and twirled it around in his hands as if it was a baton.

The other opponent was noticeably younger and smaller, and had a rather terrifying appearance. Their head was covered with a black, metal hockey mask, which had an odd splatter of blood on it. A dark grey scarf wrapped around its head, covering everything but their mask, and for some bizarre reason, covered their right eye. They wore a blood splattered grey T-shirt, and a black vest. Torn jeans hung of their legs loosely, and feet were barefooted, bandages wrapped around the soles of their feet.

Their skin was pale, with their right arm wrapped tightly with two layers of dirt-coated bandages, even the hand and individual fingers were wrapped carefully. Their visible left eye was jade green, but unnaturally pale. The Gecko noticed that the eye didn't follow his movements. He also noticed the kid was unarmed, and a grin crawled onto his face.

The man on the life-guard post stood on the chair and shouted,

"**Welcome, to Pollice Verso Six!"**

The cheering volume rose, until the man motioned his hands for silence. He continued:

"I am your host, Xin Fu! The rules are simple: incapacitate or knock down your opponent, and when they cannot fight back any longer, I shall choose whether the defeated should be _condemned to death_, or spared!"

He gave a "thumbs-up" sign to a sickly old man standing next to the life-guard stand, and the old man nodded and struck a make-shift gong, made of bike chains, boards made of dead trees, and a large cooking pot.

"Round 1: The Gecko..."

Most of the audience cheered louder, some standing and clapping. Even the guards joined in the excitement. Once the crowd calmed down, the Gecko waited with anticipation.

"...verses _the Blind Bandit_!"

-o-o-o-

Katara quickly rushed to her makeshift home, which was a hut made of melted and shaped plastic, held together by rusted nails. The frame of the hut was made of branches from dead trees. Surprisingly, the hut was large enough for three people: her older brother Sokka, Katara, and their grandmother, who they and everyone else called Gran-Gran.

Gran-Gran was currently sleeping in her sleeping bag, and Katara quietly tip-toed to pick up two partially rotted tomatoes, and before she crept out, a voice asked, "What do you think you're doing?"

Katara froze, and then turned around quickly, hiding the tomatoes behind her back. She grinned sheepishly as her grandmother approached. "Uh, good-morning, Gran-Gran..."

The elder woman smiled, and handed Katara three dried sardines. "If you're going to bet, take these. And make sure Sokka picks the right fighter this time, would you?"

Katara smiled, took the fish, and gave her grandmother a quick hug. Then she ran out of the hut towards the arena to see her first Pollice Verso Match.

There was already a large crowd surrounding the betting table, and Katara spotted Sokka the second one from the front, searching his pockets for something to bet. She sighed in irritation and pushed through the surrounding people, who gave her dirty looks. Sokka rummaged through his empty pockets, until a hand tapped his shoulder.

He let out a rather girlish scream and jumped about a foot in the air. The surrounding people snickered and Sokka's face turned pink as he turned around. An annoyed Katara stood there, arms crossed across her chest and tapping her foot.

"Oh, hey there Katara!" He greeted, scratching the back of his head. "Uh, by any chance, do you have any-?"

Katara pulled out the decaying food and walked ahead of him to the betting stand. She placed the food down on the table and the oddsmaker automatically asked, "Who would you like to bet on, ma'am?"

"The Boulder-!" Sokka started, but was cut off when Katara put her hand over his mouth.

She sighed and stated, "No, Sokka. We are not betting on the Bolder this time. We lost a whole goat that time!"

"It was only one time!" Sokka defended, pouting. "Besides, the goat was too thin anyways."

"_A-HEM_." The oddsmaker coughed, then tapped the cardboard board on the table, listing the fighters names. The two siblings leaned over and studied the roster.

"The Boulder...Hippo...Gold Sink Man...Gopher...Gecko...hey, what's the chances of this guy, um, the Blind Bandit, going to win?" Sokka asked, pointing at the name. The oddsmaker closed his eyes for a second, and replied, "Five out of ten...at most."

"We'll take it!" Sokka shouted before Katara could stop him. The Oddsmaker smiled and placed the food into a basket and scrawled a few illegible words onto a scrap piece of paper and handed to Katara, who took it reluctantly. As they walked toward the arena, Katara whacked Sokka lightly on the back of the head, nearly shouting, "What did you do that for?"

"That's what I should be asking you!" He replied.

"You just lost us all of our food!"

"No, don't worry, my little sister." Here, a confidence was gushing out of his voice. "You see, last time I betted, it was because the Boulder had a low score he won so much!"

"But you betted on someone with high chances!"

"No, I betted on someone with _medium_ chances."

"**Welcome, to Pollice Verso Six!" **The voice of the host, Xin Fu, called, and Sokka grabbed Katara's wrist and dragged her towards the pool. They quickly sat on one of the old diving board getting full view of the pool.

"I wonder why no one sits here." Sokka thought out loud. At that moment, a loud snapping sound was heard and the diving board snapped in half, the other half falling into the arena/pool. The two sibling scooted closer to the edge. "Oh. That's why."

Katara sighed and began picking at her nails, saying, "This is just going to be a bunch of guys beating the snot out of each other, isn't it?"

"That's what I go here for." Sokka replied, grinning.

Katara barely listened to the rules until she heard the rules, "...the defeated should be_ condemned to death, _or spared!"

She felt her blood freeze as her eyes widened in shock. She turned to Sokka and asked, "What?"

Sokka turned to her and raised an eyebrow. "What 'what'? I thought I've told you about this game before."

"Round 1: The Gecko..."

Sokka loudly booed and put both of his thumbs down, while most of the others cheered. Katara spotted the scrawny man with the metal pole grinning with excitement.

"...verses _the Blind Bandit_!"

What Katara expected was a large, muscular fighter that could take their opponents down with one blow. What she didn't expect, was a bandaged child with a bloody hockey mask.

"That kid's not really blind; it's just part of their character, isn't it?" Katara asked.

Sokka blinked and sat up in realization. "I think she is..."

-o-o-o-


	2. Chapter 2 Sell Your Soul

**Author's Note –Here's more characters and plot in this chapter. And if my mind does mess anything up, this chapter should be a little less dark...besides the fight scene. **

**Vulcanblood – Thank for reviewing Homeslice-sama. And yes, I will finish the contest chapter later, but for now, have this internet cookie. *Hands cookie.***

**GreenNatureGirl – Thank you for your support! And I enjoy the irony of your username and this story. =D**

**Angel-of-Energy – Heh, not all idea from this story is mine. Some ideas are from some heavy-metal music videos my co-author looked up, some are from the Holocaust survivor documents of torture and experimentation on humans (Nazi Human Experimentation), theories of apocalypse, and the last few bits are from our messed up imaginations. Just to let you know, there is going to be blood and gore in this story, but not like the: "OMG. THEY. ARE. BLEEDING. TO. DEATH. LOL. 5 STARS. SUBSCRIBE. MACHINIMA." No, the gore in this story is meaningful as gore and blood and wounds are going to get. Thank you for your compliments though, and I strongly suggest you don't use profanity in your reviews: THINK OF THE CHILDREN! D= **

**(I'm not mad at you or anything, but please, don't swear...even though there's swearing in this story...never mind. -_-) **

**Dystopia - An imagined place or state in which everything is unpleasant or bad, typically a totalitarian or environmentally degraded one; idea of a society in a repressive and controlled state, often under the guise of being utopian.**

**FN 303 - a semi-automatic less-lethal riot gun designed and manufactured by Fabrique Nationale de Herstal. The FN 303's projectiles have been specifically designed to break up on impact, reducing risks of penetrating injuries. Typical operating scenarios include domestic violence intervention, marking violent suspects and building surveillance.**

**456: In Mandarin, 7456 (qī sì wǔ liù) sounds marginally like ****qì-sǐ wǒ -le, "to make me angry," "to piss me off", and is sometimes used in internet slang.**

* * *

"_I'm holding on so tightly now_

_My insides scream so loud_

_They keep watching, watching me drown_

_How did it come to this?_

_How did it come to this? How did I know it was you?_

_It was a bad dream asphyxiated, watch me bleed_

_The life support was cut, the knot was too tight_

_They push and pull me but they know they'll never win_

_Throw it all away, throw it all away, I keep on screaming_

_But there's really nothing left to say_

_So get away, just get away, I keep on fighting_

_But I can't keep going on this way_

_I can't keep going, can't keep going on like this_

_They make me sick and I get so sick of it_

_'Cause they won't let me, they won't let me breath_

_Why can't they let me be?_

_Why can't they let me be? Why don't I know what I am?_

_I force this hate into my heart 'cause it's my only friend_

_My lips are sewn shut, I watch myself bleed_

_They push and pull me and it's killing me within_

_Throw it all away, throw it all away, I keep on screaming_

_But there's really nothing left to say_

_So get away, just get away, I keep on fighting_

_But I can't keep going on this way."_

_- Sell You Soul by Hollywood Undead_

* * *

"FIGHT! " Xin Fu shouted, and the gong rang again. The audience let out a loud roar, along with deafening cheering and whistling.

"Let's get this over with." The Gecko muttered to himself, and immediately dashed at the Blind Bandit.

* * *

"_Hei Bai, you there?"_

"Yes, ready to serve master."

He swiveled in the chair to the large screen of the mega-computer and raised both of his hands at the white screen. He stood from his chair, stepping onto the large jumble of wires and cords spread across the room's floor. The motion sensor attached to the ceiling followed him as he stepped onto the low pedestal, and light lit up from underneath his feet. A red beam of light blinked on his palms, and suddenly spanned into a grid, measuring his hand. Moments later, the light flickered off and let out a small tinny ring.

The screen's color changed from white to black, but with green numbers of binary code sitting on the bottom left corner. Hei Bai clenched his left hand into a fist and snapped the fingers on his right hand, causing radiant colors to burst from the screen.

He didn't shield his eyes from the light, which temporarily blinded him. Once his eyes refocused, he saw a dull orange sky, with a nearly white sun shooting into the camera.

"_Is it in position yet?"_

"Just a moment." Hei Bai replied to his creator's disembodied voice. He clenched both his hands into fists lowered them to both of his sides. Then he swiftly punched the air above him, causing the robotic spider to roll over. He relaxed his hands and began walking in place, causing the spider to crawl forward.

"_Try to get it by the main life guard tower; make sure you get the whole arena. That'll prove those lazy 'Freedom Fighters'."_

The spider did as told and crawled from its hidey-hole to the underneath of the lifeguard seat. He stopped walking and rotated his hands in a counter-clockwise motion, causing the camera to spin and stop at 180 degrees, reversing its upside down state.

"It is done."

"_Good work, for a golem. Now sit back, and watch the master at work."_

The obsidian golem chuckled and crossed his mighty arms across barrel chest, which, at the center, had a circular opening shielded with some reinforced glass, with a glowing white orb floating within.

His pure white eyes followed as the Gecko charged at his master, who was heavily disguised. A large bellowing laugh as the green-dressed human attempted to hit her with such a weak weapon as a metal pole.

"Make sure not to disembowel, Master Bei Fong."

"_I'm the Blind Bandit right now, golem. Get it right."_

* * *

The crowd let out a startled gasp, and the Gecko's eyes widened in shock. Behind the mask, the Blind Bandit grinned. The bandit's bandaged hand tightened on the pole, and its other hand swiftly punched the Gecko in the stomach with unexpected force. It let go of the pole and the Gecko flew back about a few feet.

The audience was baffled, some stammering questions that would remain unanswered.

"What the-?"

"How did he do that?"

"That would've broken his hand!"

The guards stood up in alarm, a few turned to each other with knowing glance, and hurried out of the crowd. Only a few people noticed their absence, but were already too confused to question it.

"Kid..." The Gecko wheezed, short of breath. He stuck the pole into the ground and leaned against it of support. "How...How did you do that...?"

The Bandit stood in silence for a moment, and then tilted his head slightly to the right.

"_It's for me to know...and you to never find out."_

Its voice was distorted, obviously through a voice changer within the mask. Then the masked child dashed forward so quickly it was a blur, and the Gecko gasped and drew the pole from the ground and used it block the Bandit's oncoming bandaged fist.

It was then that the audience and the Gecko saw that where the Blind Bandit grabbed the pole, the metal was indented with the Bandit's hand.

"Oh dear SWEET TANGY BABY JESUS-!"

The Gecko was cut off by a loud metallic tearing noise, along with a horrible crunch.

* * *

Katara gasped and brought her hands over her mouth in disbelief, while Sokka's jaw dropped. The rest of the audience either covered their eyes or backed away in disgust.

The Gecko lay out sprawled on the red concrete floor, blood dripping down his broken nose and seeping from the back of his head into his mask. The metal pole sat a yard away, practically torn in half.

"_Xin Fu!" _The Bandit shouted, standing over the nearly unconscious Gecko. _"I believe it is Judgment time."_

Xin Fu sat with an indifferent face, cross-legged, in his chair. A scowl crawled onto his face and held out his right hand and gave the Bandit a "thumbs up" sigh.

The Blind Bandit let out a small growl of frustration, but backed away from the bleeding Gecko. Xin Fu stood in his chair and announced, "And the winner is...The Blind Bandit!"

"WOO-HOOO! YEAH!" Sokka cheered, jumping up and down on the diving board. The rest of the audience gave each other uncertain glances, until some of the people joined in clapping. After a few moments, the entire crowd was applauding and whistling.

* * *

"Wonderful job, Master."

"_Like I wouldn't know, these guys are nearly making deaf."_

"Now, according to this planner," Hei Bai brushed his hand across the screen, making the scroll of dates at the bottom of the screen flash before his eyes. "There are about 2 hours before...waiting a minute..."

"_What?"_

The golem brought his hands in front of him and did breast stroke motions, causing the camera to zoom in to the top right corner of the screen. A dozen men in dark green riot gear were running toward the arena, the face of a lion on their chests and shoulders.

"Lion Soldiers..." He muttered, zooming in even more. They wielded riot shields and FN 303s, and even had flashbang (stun) grenades strapped to their belt.

"Master, there are 12 Lion soldiers approaching rapidly." Hei Bai reported with a panicked tone, punching the air in front of the screen, causing the camera to lock onto the oncoming enemies. He began typing into the air, causing small squares of light to appear underneath each of his fingers as they pressed the invisible keyboard. The video shifted to the top left corner of the screen and the rest of the screen was taken up by green letters of binary code. "They're closing in, arrival time: 23.6 seconds, wielding standard Lion riot gear code #7456."

He let a clamorous string of swears flow out of his mouth as they reached the edge of the crowd, shoving the confused Strays over to get to the arena. "What shall I do, Master?"

"_Nothing."_

If the golem was drinking some sort of liquid at that moment, it would be the perfect spit-take. He sputtered, "But...why...?"

"_Hey, don't worry, Panda Bear." _Hei Bai let a low growl roll out of his throat at his old nickname. _"I am the greatest automaton in the world! Don't you ever forget it!"_

"Yes, master..." He muttered, and suddenly the sound connection was cut. Sighing, he activated the spider camera's sound, and the deafening roar of the audience blasted through the speakers.

The roar slowly died down into cries of fright as the soldiers got through the crowd and entered the arena. Now all he could do was watch...

"Why can't they just let us be...?"

* * *

"Soldiers?" Katara asked in alarm, watching them get into a rectangular formation, blocking the sloped pool exit. Xin Fu stood in his chair, eyes narrowed and an awful scowl replacing his mouth.

"What are you doing in my ring?" He nearly shouted, and Sokka noted the soldiers filch. They didn't answer him, however, and just raised their riot shields and brought their guns around the sides; pointed at the Blind Bandit.

Someone in the crowd screamed, and most of them scooted back. But the two siblings on the diving board let curiosity overwhelm them as they leaned forward.

One of the soldiers barked, "Are you the Blind Bandit?"

The masked assailant turned to face them, and its eye narrowed. _"That I am...what about it?"_

Some of the soldiers squirmed uncomfortably, and one stepped forward stating, "By the Lion's Code, you are ordered to return back to your territory and not to return-ugh!"

Katara and Sokka gasped. The soldier stood in shock, and eventually slumped over, slowly forming a puddle of blood from his abdomen.

The Blind Bandit let out a thunderous laugh, head leaning back in amusement. White bandages hit the floor, as the bandaged arm had three blades protruding from its forearm past its fingers, two starting three inches from the elbow and the middle one extending back from the elbow by one inch, all coated with blood. The arm wielding the blades was still mostly bandaged, by Katara saw a glint of metal underneath.

The audience let out cries of shock and disbelief, some running off to get help. The soldiers began firing their guns, only for the bladed arm to deflect most of the non-lethal bullets, causing light red paint to splatter along the remaining bandages.

"_Is that all you got?" _It challenged, and suddenly sprinted forward. One of the soldiers let out a squeal of fright and most of them ran off as it sliced one of their riot shields perfectly in half. The last remaining one stood his ground, and threw his gun onto the ground.

* * *

"What the heck is he doing...?" Hei Bai asked, leaning forward. The soldier slowly brought his hand up and reached behind his back for something.

His eyes widened and he shouted in alarm, "Master! Watch out-!"

* * *

Katara screamed as the grenade exploded, causing smoke to fly through the air along with some shrapnel. The smoke didn't clear as the two siblings felt the board underneath them shake, and then snap and fall, taking Katara along with it.

* * *

"Crap...crap...crap...!"

Hei Bai typed into the invisible keyboard madly, with the smoke filled arena at the top left corner of the screen, a small square of binary code in the bottom left corner, and the majority of the right side of the screen was taken up by his master's 3D model colored in black and green. The model rotated, and the left arm of it turned a dark shade of red, and the golem ripped his eyes from the model back to the arena as he heard the familiar sound of breaking wood.

He maximized the arena to take up the whole screen, and watched as the dust and smoke settled. Words got caught in his throat at the scene, and he immediately slammed in fist down on the invisible keyboard, causing it snap off its hinges and hit the ground with a loud clang, its shattered pieces of metal very visible.

Two of his fingers clicked the side of his head where a human's ears would've been, causing the button there to click and the sound of static buzzed into the subterranean region.

"_01001101 01100001 01110011 01110100 01100101 01110010 00100000 01101001 01110011 00100000 01101001 01101110 00100000 01110100 01110010 01101111 01110101 01100010 01101100 01100101 00101100 00100000 01110011 01100101 01101110 01100100 00100000 01101111 01110101 01110100 00100000 01000110 01100001 01101110 01100111 00100000 01110100 01101111 00100000 01100011 01101111 01101101 01110000 01101111 01110101 01101110 01100100 00100000 01101110 01110101 01101101 01100010 01100101 01110010 00100000 00110101 00110011 00110101 00110100 00101110 00100000 01011001 01101111 01110101 00100000 01101011 01101110 01101111 01110111 00100000 01110111 01101000 01100001 01110100 00100000 01110100 01101111 00100000 01100100 01101111 00101110.(1)"_

* * *

_(1) - Master is in trouble; send out Fang to compound number 5354. You know what to do._

_Automaton - A type of android that is a mix of dead and living parts, being a robot that can perform desired tasks in unstructured environments without continuous human guidance, and the word __automaton _is the latinization of the Greek αὐτόματον, _automaton_, (neuter) "acting of one's own will". 

_Golem - An animated anthropomorphic __(The word was used to mean an amorphous, unformed material) __being, created entirely from inanimate matter, created for a specific purpose._


	3. Chapter 3 Behind Closed Doors

**Author's Note – Thank for all of you that follow/like/review/urinate on this story! Instead of working on my English essay, studying for a fairly easy math test, working on my history project, or finishing my literature worksheet, I work on this magnificent monstrosity my mind had summoned! Warning: This chapter contains a mild amount of profanity. **

**GreenNatureGirl - the golem is NOT the spider thing, the golem, whose name is Hei Bai, is an obsidian golem who was controlling the spider camera (which was hidden within the compound) from the automaton's underground base. The automaton, who is the Blind Bandit, is the golem's master, and the creator of both the golem and spider cameras (plural). The Blind Bandit is still Toph Bei Fong and yes...and sort of no for being blind. You'll see later in the story (next chapter) what I mean by that. And thank you for liking my story! **

**Angel-of-Energy - Don't worry, I forgive you for your profanity. The existence of bending will be revealed later, so don't tell anybody! (Shh!) And yes, Toph is a type of cyborg, which I call an automaton (because it sounds cooler), but still mostly human, as you will read about later. And yes, Aang will be in this story.**

**Vulcanblood – Yes...that is quite strange, but not as the feeling of picturing fifty billion rainbows, and the sun is setting, and the moon is setting, also, and you're there in a gazebo. And then God descends from heaven... and He gives you a million dollars.**

**DISCLAIMER – Flipping Table Productions does NOT own any of the character, but own 99.99% of the story plot.**

* * *

"_Chairs thrown and tables toppled,_

_Hands armed with broken bottles,_

_Standing no chance to win but,_

_We're not running, we're not running._

_There's a point I think we're missing,_

_It's in the air we raise our fists in,_

_In the smiles we cast each other,_

_My sister, my brother._

_About the time we gave up hope and_

_We never find these locks still open,_

_Stumbling on stones unturned,_

_The hurt we feel, we all have found._

_The lives we've lost in such a change,_

_But all they see is treason_

_Although we have no obligation to stay alive_

_On broken backs we beg for mercy, we will survive_

_(Break out) I won't be left here_

_Behind closed doors..."_

_- Behind Closed Doors by Rise Against_

* * *

"Ugh... Dammit…The bastard got me, did he get anyone else...?"

The Blind Bandit's bandaged hand clutched the bleeding wound on its left shoulder, staining the white to dark red. Sliding itself up the tiled wall, it paused at the sound of breaking wood and a loud thud.

Once the masked bandit was standing, it noticed that the scarf had been blown slightly back, uncovering its right eye, the computerized eye switching from infrared vision to normal peripheral vision, making sight even harder in the flying smoke and dust.

"Ouch!" A foreign female voice said from the smoke. "Sokka? Where are you?"

"Katara?" Another unknown voice called out, definitely male. "Katara, where are you, I can't see you!"

The bandit's eyes widened and then called out in its altered voice, _"Hey is anyone else in here?"_

A moment of silence except for the sound of hissing smoke and scattered footsteps of confused Strays, then Katara replied, "Yeah, I fell in!"

"_Are you hurt?"_

"No, I should be fine-!"

The girl let out a startled cry and a gruff voice shouted, "Freeze!"

Not knowing what happened to the girl, the masked automaton didn't move a muscle as the dust settled, and saw a moderately filthy young woman with disheveled brown hair and kind but fierce blue eyes, now filled with fear as a pistol was pressed against her temple and an armored arm around her neck.

A panicked guard, blood dripping from various shrapnel wounds, was trembling with fear and he ordered, "D-don't mo-move!"

* * *

Katara froze with fear, not because the firearm jammed against her head or that the arm was nearly constricting her, but of the inhuman, incandescent blood red eye.

Or at least, what she thought was an eye.

The dust ever so slowly settled, and she felt the guard begin to shake and whimper in complete terror.

Standing in the center of the arena was the Blind Bandit, bloody blades extended from its elbow to a foot past its right wrist, and right eye uncovered, the eye being completely black except for a terrifying red ring. As Katara watched, she saw the darkness inside the red ring shifted back and forth, like a camera taking focus.

"D-don't mo-move!"

The Blind Bandit's mismatched eyes narrowed to mere slits of hate beneath the mask, and took a confident forward. The guard recoiled in alarm and cried, "Don't g-get closer o-or I'll blast this girl's brains out!"

_Click._

The half red-eyed humanoid came to a halt, but an almost animal-like growl reverberated from the mask. Katara felt all blood drain from her face as she stared straight into its eyes, almost seeing her life flash before her eyes. The automaton pointed one red-stained bandaged finger menacingly, simultaneously pointing the three bloody blades as well, at the petrified soldier and snarled, _"That's the problem with you Lions."_

The man blinked in surprise and didn't notice the Blind Bandit take a small step forward.

"_Every single time you want something, you do whatever you want to seize it." _It spat out the words as if they were worms. _"You go out, don't give a fuck about anyone else, and beat the shit out of anyone in your way. You go and take innocent civilians and turn them into hostages. You turn one small problem into a cataclysm. You either remove or destroy anything to you that isn't 'perfect'. You hold off problems until they've become someone else's. You greedy, selfish, ignorant, rapacious pricks are the people who brought our world's downfall. You've reached the climax of greed, forgetting the simple fact that life on this earth is just temporary..."_

Katara's listening ears zoned out once she noticed that the Blind Bandit had the soldier in a sort of horrific trance, and that the masked humanoid was approaching with a steady pace, spewing out its outrage.

"_...You indulge in the world's last gifts, unaware...no...Ignoring, the slickly, starving, and dying. They do NOTHING, except put cowardly and useless young fools to keep these moribund people trapped in these large cages. You give them enough to live, but for what? Just to sit here and die!"_

The humanoid's words rang out throughout the entire compound, attracting the Strays to the arena. Guards rushed to their posts, grabbing guns and ammunition. Sokka had disappeared, but Katara was too preoccupied to notice.

"_These people have been desperate, starving, dehydrating, sweating from labor, while you recline on your fat asses and lie around like the giant sacks of lard you people are! We have been keeping quiet and done as we were told, but now, we're sick of it! You've long since passed the point of no return! Now tell me Strays, aren't you sick and tired of all of this?"_

Katara winced at the roaring cheer from practically all Strays in the compound, and noticed the edge of the pool packed with rather angry and excited people, armed with broken bottles, sticks, and other old blunt/sharp objects. She gasped as the Blind Bandit's hand reached over her shoulder and stabbed through the gun into the guard's torso. The guard cried out in pain and jumped back, but a hand grabbed his ankle and he came into uncontrolled contact with the ground.

The Gecko grinned and released his hand from the man's boot and turned to the Blind Bandit, who nodded in thanks to the greed-clad warrior.

The world nearly froze to Katara as the Blind Bandit stared its abnormal eyes into her dark blue ones. The red robotic eye zoomed and seemed to scan her for a second, and then the automaton walked around her as if she wasn't even there.

* * *

"Sir, are you seeing this?"

The dark brown haired commander nodded, dark orange eyes glaring at the screen. The image was fuzzy, but the image of the pale green and crimson eyed humanoid glared down at them, blood dripping down from the blades on its arm.

"Send this video to Lord Ozai immediately."

The captain sputtered. "Commander Zhao, are you sure about that?"

"That wasn't a question, Capitan Li, it was an order."

He gulped and nodded, turning back to his computer and began connecting the live video with their leader.

Commander Zhao stood and stepped toward the screen, eyed narrowed.

"Automaton, what are you planning to accomplish?"

* * *

The guard screamed very unmanly screams, rolling onto his stomach and trying to crawl away, only for the Blind Bandit's bandaged foot to stomp down on his spine, pinning him to the ground.

"_You shun them; act like they're not there. But we're not aliens, WE ARE PEOPLE, people, you've kept BURIED ALIVE IN THIS GOD FORSAKEN GROUND!"_

There was a salvo of approval from the surrounding audience, raising their fists into the air. The Blind Bandit used its human hand to carelessly rip the slightly red-stained pistol off of its blades, shards of metal flying into the air. It flipped the damaged gun over and examined it. Then it knelt down, foot still pinning the guard down, and placed the barrel of the gun against his head.

_Click._

"_How does it feel, to be on this end of the gun?"_

The guard began to tremble and literally sob in despair, and the Strays cheering was interrupted as more heavily armed soldiers flooded in, this time, wielding M16A4 rifles.

With completely lethal bullets.

Someone screamed as they filed into a line, weapons pointed at the Blind Bandit, ignoring the fact that their bullets would also kill Katara if fired.

"H-he-help me!" The guard wheezed, a thin stream of blood trailing down the side of his mouth. The Blind Bandit stomped down on the guard's back again, causing the guard to cough uncontrollably, droplets of blood spraying onto the already blood-stained floor.

All the soldiers gave each other uncertain glance, until a voice from behind them asked in a commanding voice, "What do you plan to do with him, automaton?"

Said automaton looked up from its prey to an older, larger man than the others, armor dark red with an engraved roar lion image on his chest plate and shoulders. He was a middle-aged with light orange eyes; was evidently unarmed, hands behind his back. He repeated, "What are you going to do, hm? Kill him?"

The bandit tilted its head slightly and responded, _"What difference would it be to you anyways? You have many more...sitting around..."_ It began waving its human hand, gesturing at all the open space of the compound. _"...doing absolutely nothing..."_

The man chuckled darkly, and then continued, "You know the consequences for killing a Lion soldier, automaton. You have broken enough rules already. Now, if you come with us, we can forget this ever happened..."

"_Right, and then you'll kill me."_

"Now now, why would you think that?"

Katara noticed before he responded, a flash of fear appeared in his eyes.

"_Don't joke around with me, Admiral Chan."_

Admiral Chan's eyes widened. "How do you know my name?"

A metallic laugh echoed off the walls and Katara could virtually see the Blind Bandit's grin behind the mask.

"_You honestly think, after all these years, us automatons, golems, and androids would just let you stomp all over us? That you killed every last one of us? How sad. I thought you'd be slightly smarter than this, but that's probably asking too much. I've seen all the horrible things your people have done. Don't lie, you know I know. Then after we saw it, you kept us hid us with lock and key, waiting for us to rot as you waged war among yourself."_

His eyes narrowed. "Child, we have kept at peace for generation after generation. We will keep this peace as long as mankind still breathes-!"

The soldiers and Strays gasped as the Blind Bandit instantly directed the gun at a wide-eyed Chan, laughing. It then shouted, _"If you want your accursed peace, than PREPARE FOR WAR!"_

* * *

Commander Zhao's eyes widened in shock as he watched his fellow colleague's headless body collapse as the gunshot was fired. The startled soldiers behind him immediately began returning fire, the guard being expectantly shot in the cross-fire, causing the video to cut off.

The other workers in the room were speechless, glancing at each other with shocked and stunned expressions. After a few moments of silence, the commander didn't turn his eyes from the screen as he said:

"Tell Lord Ozai...the automatons...no, the Badgermoles, have returned..."

A silence pregnant with suspense filled the room one more at the Commander gritted his teeth in anger. He swiftly turned around and continued.

"**And they have declared war."**


	4. Chapter 4 War of Change

**Author's Note – Am I the only one who finds this weird? My birthday and the Graduation Dance for the 8****th**** graders were on the same day... WHICH ON THE 18****TH**** OF MAY!**

**I'm actually a teenager now! Yes! Now, would you kindly review as my LATE birthday present? I might forgive you for now showing up at the party. =3**

**Also, do you notice the song lyrics that I put in on every chapter so far? I recommend you listen to the song while reading. It adds effect. =D**

**Vulcanblood – Yes.**

**This is more of a filler chapter, but introduces the narrator of the story. (An OC, although this character is one of my favorites. =3)**

* * *

"_It's a truth that in love and war,_

_Worlds collide and hearts get broken,_

_I want to live like I know I'm dying,_

_Take up my cross, not be afraid_

_Is it true what they say, that words are weapons?_

_And if it is, then everybody best stop steppin',_

_Cause I got ten in my pocket that'll bend ya locket,_

_I'm tired of all these rockers sayin' 'come with me',_

_Wait, it's just about to break, it's more than I can take,_

_Everything's about to change,_

_I feel it in my veins; it's not going away,_

_Everything's about to change._

_It creeps in like a thief in the night,_

_Without a sign, without a warning,_

_But we are ready and prepared to fight,_

_Raise up your swords, don't be afraid,_

_Is it true what they say, that words are weapons?_

_And if it is, then everybody best stop steppin',_

_Cause I got ten in my pocket that'll bend ya locket,_

_I'm tired of all these rockers sayin' 'come with me',_

_Wait, it's just about to break, it's more than I can take,_

_Everything's about to change,_

_I feel it in my veins; it's not going away,_

_Everything's about to change._

_This is a warning, like it or not,_

_I break down, like a record spinning,_

_Gotta get up,_

_So back off,_

_This is a warning, like it or not,_

_I'm tired of listenin'; I'm warning you, don't try to get up,_

_There's a war going on inside of me tonight (don't be afraid)_

_There's a war going on inside of me tonight (don't be afraid)_

_Wait, it's just about to break, it's more than I can take,_

_Everything's about to change,_

_I feel it in my veins; it's not going away,_

_Everything's about to change,_

_It's just about to break; it's more than I can take,_

_Everything's about to change,_

_I feel it in my veins, its not going away,_

_Everything's about to change."_

_- War of Change by Thousand Foot Krutch_

* * *

Katara as frozen with fear, back pressed against the tile pool wall, and felt her heart stop as the sound of the gunshot rang through the pool and seemed to echo throughout the entire compound. For a few seconds, the world itself almost held its breath as the blood of Admiral Chan fly through the air, for the explosive bullet had imploded his head.

The female Stray began shaking uncontrollably as the headless body collapsed onto its knees, and the soldiers behind it lifted their guns in a menacing manner, fingers pressing against the triggers. The Blind Bandit abruptly jumped off the guard and whipped the now unloaded gun at them, crashing into one guard's eye. He cried out and quickly placed his gloved hand against it, the weight shifting to his trigger hand, causing bullets to fire into the ground, sending dust and pieces of rocks into the air.

The moment before the other soldiers began returning fire, the Blind Bandit turned and spotted her, and its mismatched eyes widened.

Then she squeezed her eyes shut as the sound of gunshots multiplied, reaching an almost deafening state. Instead of bullets, she felt a something, no, _someone_, collide into her and both of them flew back and smashed into the back wall.

Her breath got knocked out of her as they crashed into the wall. She didn't expect that her head would fly back and smash into the solid wall, pain flooding through her skull. Suddenly, there was dust flying, wilding talking, enraged shouting; hissings, howling, crashing glass, and cries of pain.

The weight of the person shifted and rolled off, and she felt blood stream and touch her bare foot. Using mush effort, she opened her eyes only a little, and saw the Blind Bandit lying in front of her on its stomach. Its head was turned her way, pale green eye closed and crimson eye half open, staring directly into her eyes. It whispered:

"_And now...little sheep...the die has been cast...there's no turning back now..."_

It's crimson ring rolled back and the eye closed, and the Blind Bandit's breathing relaxed. She stared down at the unconscious body for a few moments, assessing the situation. Then she looked up and felt her heart in her mouth.

Sokka was dressed in a dark blue skintight uniform of some sort, and his face painted grey, white, and black, exactly like a wolf. His shoulder length unruly hair now in what seemed to be a short ponytail. Equipped in his hand was a sharpened steel boomerang and in the other was a grey club.

Surrounding him were countless numbers of other Strays fighting the soldiers with other random items. Overwhelmed, the soldiers tried not to fire their guns to prevent shooting each other and tried blocking attacks with their guns, only for the guns to be knocked out of their hands.

Without warning, the terrifying sounds of sirens fired into the air, and dozens of more guards and soldiers came out from behind the Stray's houses and jumped down from the bathhouse's roof. In their hands were even bigger and more lethal guns, outmatching the Stray's old weapons. The Strays froze in their spots, death staring them in the face.

Before any of the reinforcements could even lift their guns, a computerized roar filled the air, causing everyone to cover their ears. Katara felt all the energy suddenly drain out of her, and her eyelids slowly closed.

The moment before she closed her eyes completely, she saw a flash of fire and heard screams of terror. Ears ringing, she felt the ground shake as a large shadow loomed over her, along with the sound of metal scraping against metal.

She forced her eyes open once more, and what she saw baffled her.

To put it simply, it was a colossal metal dragon. The dragon robot's body was long and serpent-like, with only four steam-hinged piston legs keeping it on the ground. Metal plates overlapped each other and connected the body together, acting as a 'slinky' whenever it moved. Its wings were made of long metal frames connected by clockwork cogs; thin flexible plates of metal attached. Rust and dirt coated the once grey iron into a dull brown color. Some of its metal plating eroded away, revealing gears and clockwork inside with a steel frame acting as a skeleton.

Its swiveling ball-mounted head was delicately carved with every detail, even if it was rusted. Instead of horns, there were venting stacks, causing black smoke to flood the sky. The artificial dragon's eyes were black with a large crimson circle in the center, similar to the Blind Bandit's eye.

Fire spewed out the dragon's mechanized nostril as it turned to the mob of petrified Lion soldiers and Strays, opened its mighty jaws, showing barbed blood-stained rows of steel teeth. In the back of its throat, a small orange light shone out.

Screaming and shouting, the Strays scrambled out of the way while the Lion soldiers whipped out their guns and aimed at the dragon. The soldiers began firing aimlessly at the dragon, only for the bullets to harmlessly fly off the corroded metal.

As expected, the bright light grew into a large beam of light, and suddenly bright orange flames spewed out of the dragon's mouth. Soldiers screamed in pain they were engulfed in the sea of flames and some directly in front got incinerated. The remaining soldiers were out of the fire's range and tried desperately to put out the fires on their comrades without water.

It abruptly stopped its assault by shutting its mouth, and the excess flames and smoke discharged out its nostrils and venting stacks.

With a large screeching sound, the dragon's side scrolled open and five unidentified figures dressed in hard leather leapt out of the dragon's open bowels. The preoccupied soldiers had no time to react as arrows flew through the air, immediately killing some of the soldiers. Another soldier shouted and ran around wildly as a small child rode on his head like a wild animal.

Another warrior easily stabbed through the bulletproof vests of the soldiers, brandishing knives in both hands and holding another with its teeth. One warrior was armed with brass knuckles, dodging bullets with ease and knocking out soldiers with swift punches. The largest warrior towered over the soldiers, smashing two guns in with a simple wooden log.

The last warrior wielded two hook swords, kicking down two soldiers and flinging two more into the air with the swords. He grinned, a lit cigarette sticking out of his teeth. A puff of smoke brushed past his lips as his vigilant brown eyes stared at the stunned soldiers and Strays. A grin crept onto his face and shouted:

"Back-up has arrived, bitches!"

* * *

"WHY IN THE NAME OF EVERYTHING HOLY DID YOU BRING THE FREEDOM FIGHTERS WITH YOU!"

A pile of shattered remains of invisible keyboards were gathered up at Hei Bai's feet. The golem had his achromatic eyes glued to the screen. The 3D model rotated, but now its torso and entire left arm was a dark shade of red.

His eyes followed the screen, watching through the dragon's eyes as the Freedom Fighters were on a complete massacre of the Lion soldiers, showing no mercy as they cut the impuissant soldiers down like a lawnmower mowing a wild yard.

"_Sorry, sir." _Fang apologized, and the camera's view shifted. _"But they insisted that they come along, because they were, as they said: 'bored as hell'."_

Hei Bai nearly let out a roared out in frustration, but caught himself as he felt his sanity slip.

"Crap..." He groaned, looking down at his mechanized hand and growled as sparks began to fly from the cracks between the metal plates. "Not now...Not now!"

**Stage 1 of 2: Beginning to Erase Memory**

**Current Progress: 0%**

"_Sir? Sir, what's going on?"_

"I'll-I'll be right back Fang, j-just, g-got to get to the-the-augh!"

He doubled over as the device inside him slowly came to life, connecting itself to his hardware. Stumbling off of the pedestal, he held back a scream as it began installing, which to a human felt like an animal trying to claw you out from the inside.

**Stage 1 of 2: Installing Program – Fatal Fury**

**Current Progress: 16%**

"No, stop it, STOP IT!" His fists pounded against his overloaded mainframe, mostly located in his head. He sprinted over to the desks, shoving the papers off and hastily searching for something. Opening the drawers, he simply tossed them over his shoulder after searching.

**Stage 1 of 2: Installing Program – Fatal Fury**

**Current Process: 34%**

At the fifth desk, he opened the drawer and his eyes widened in recognition. Hei Bai snatched the pill bottle out of the drawer, hands shaking violently.

**Stage 1 of 2: Installing Program – Fatal Fury**

**Current Progress: 67%**

Instead of simply twisting open the cap, he smashed the top off with his fist, and gulped down multiple of the bright blue pills. One of the pills fell and dropped onto the littered floor, its emaciated metal casing holding the pill of the ground by just the width of a piece of hair; the pill itself pure black with shimmering green lines flowing across like wires to a computer.

**Stage 1 of 2: Installing Program – Fatal Fury**

**Error loading operating system: Installing Aborted**

Hei Bai sighed in relief, "Thank God!"

He stood up and brushed the shards of plastic off of his hands, and turned back to the screen, only for his legs to suddenly feel weak and collapsed onto his knees.

"What-?"

**Overheating – Forced System Shutdown**

**Saving files...**

"No, NO!"

His eyes unfocused and blurred while his entire went numb. Fang was saying something, but it was so distorted Bei Bai couldn't decipher it. He hit the floor with a loud '_clang'_, and the darkness of the room faded into nothingness.

* * *

"**Sword and Crown are worthless here, I invite everyone to dance. Laborers, Lawyers, Church, and Gown, all make their little prance..."**

The Blind Bandit lazily opened its anomalous eyes, all pain replaced by a nagging exhaustion. It felt itself floating in the lifeless air, and its one working eye examined the area and only saw an endless horizon of black nothingness.

"**Men and Women, Young and Old, reject my prophet hand. I don't implore them, nor ignore them. I firmly take my stand..."**

The automaton suddenly felt gravity return, and suddenly fell feet first onto an invisible ground. It stumbled from the unpredicted pressure, but quickly steadies itself and looked around, trying to find source of the warped voice, only to see the never-ending colorless plain.

"**This life is full of random death, and heaps of grief and shame. So few are soothed by 'accident', you want someone to blame..."**

The voice was distorted and warped, sounding like many different people talking at once. The Blind Bandit grinned as it recognized the voice as it continued its poem.

"**Fire, Plague, or Strange Disease, Drowned, Murdered, or, if you please, a long fall down the basement stairs. None are expected, no one cares."**

Out of the corner of the combatant's robotic eye saw a figure in the distant; it was slowly advancing forward.

"**I know the steps very well; all must learn my little dance. Families may die and loved ones cry, but no one is left to chance."**

It got close enough for the Blind Bandit to see it fully, and it recognized the person immediately. The figure's skin was pure black, barely visible against the surrounding area except for a thin blood red aura. It was bald and had absolutely no face, as if it was an animated mannequin. Although it was faceless, it had a wide eerie grin; all its teeth were as sharp as knives with a split tongue like a snake brushing past the fangs. The figure was the same height as the Blind Bandit, and was wearing no clothes besides a tattered pair of ebony shorts.

"**I often must work very hard, sweat running down my skin..."**

The individual then vanished into the darkness, and the air plunged into silence. The Blind Bandit then felt a presence behind it, and didn't move as the creature's mouth was right next to the fighter's ear.

"**After the dance, I then must rest...and the eating can begin..."**

The Blind Bandit chuckled and didn't even turn around as it said, "Hello, Abaddon."

I grinned once more and replied: **"Welcome back to your mind, Toph."**

* * *

**Poem: Walrus' Poem ((dot)com/forum/index(dot)php?topic=3577(dot)0;topicseen)**

**Abaddon*: is an intensive form of the word "destruction," which appears as a place of destruction in the Hebrew Bible.**

**In a vision in the New Testament Book of Revelation an angel called Abbadon is shown as king of an army of locusts, where his name is first transcribed in Greek as "whose name in Hebrew Abaddon" (Ἀβαδδὼν), then translated as "which in Greek means the Destroyer" (Apollyon, Ἀπολλύων). The Latin Vulgate, and following it the Douay Rheims Bible, has an additional note, not present in the Greek text "in Latin Exterminans," exterminans being the Latin for "destroyer."**

***Note - This is not his real name, but just Toph's nickname for him.**


	5. Chapter 5 Revelations

**Author's Note – Greetings: Human. Welcome back to another non-filler chapter of 'Welcome to Our Dystopia'. The story goes through a TIME SKIP! Oh, look, my cat walking onto my keyboard... **

**Before you ask about our scientific theories, I would like to let you know that the result of antimatter meeting matter is an explosion and mixing matter and antimatter can lead to the annihilation of both. We also like to keep a realistic style of writing, so all fighting sequences have been researched and such by us watching a **_**Fight Science **_**marathon and us trying to write all the data down like a bunch of drunken monkeys. All technology in this story as well **_**should**_** be possible in the future, unless mankind completely derps and fails us. -_-**

**Also, many apologize for not being able to update sooner, but this document literally broke, and so I have to wait a few DAYS until I could fix it. -_- And throughout the entire summer, I only have 4 HOUR OF COMPUTER PER DAY.**

**It sucks. D=**

**Randomosity – Yes, Zuko will be in this story, maybe in this chapter if my creative juices cooperate. And the story doesn't follow canon plot; it's not set in any specific season. **

**Disclaimer – Flipping Tables Productions does NOT own Avatar: The Last Airbender. **

* * *

"_I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and makes war. _

_His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself. _

_He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. _

_The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. _

_Out of his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. 'He will rule them with an iron scepter.' He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty._

_Then I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to make war against the rider on the horse and his army. _

_But the beast was captured and...thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur."_

_- Revelation 19: 11-15, 19, 20_

* * *

"Yeah, you just go and run, you cowards!" Smellerbee hollered a the retreating soldiers, the Freedom Fighter's voice raised over the rambunctious whooping of the Strays, overjoyed that their oppressors were running away like pathetic dogs with their tails between their legs.

The Lion soldiers hastily ran out of the compound, being chased by the now armed Strays, since they had stolen the knocked down guard's guns. The leader of the Freedom Fighters, Jet, sheathed his hook swords and snatched a anti-matter rifle out of a dead soldier's hand. He stood in front of the crowds of Strays, aimed at a dozen soldiers that were running in a large group, and squeezed the trigger.

Fissures for air cooling on the gun suddenly lit up with a bright red light, starting from the handle of the gun to the end of the barrel, the eerie crimson light becoming brighter and brighter with a faint but definite hum. The moment the Strays noticed what was happening, a piercing _crack_ resounded from the wide barrel of the gun as a baseball-sized ball of sparking blood-red energy launched out.

It didn't fly as fast as a bullet, but simply sailed through the air silently. Through a trained eye, you would see the ball was slowly getting darker and darker in color as it lazily glided through the still and suddenly silent air. A few soldiers noticed the sphere of energy approaching and began screaming and shouting; running even faster.

Shocked and curious, the Strays cautiously backed away while the Freedom Fighters stood their ground. Their faces were illuminated by the eerie black light, and Jet grinned.

The instant the spherical projectile hit the sandy ground, the light flickered off and it became silent. Without warning, the sphere exploded in the most unexpected way possible.

Instead of exploding normally, it erupted in a dark red discharge, slowly growing larger and larger; enveloping the area and engulfing the Lion soldiers into the 360 degree sphere of anti-matter. The sound was earsplitting vacuuming noise, and sand was sucked into the destructive bomb, garbage and soldiers flying into the ever growing cataclysm.

The Strays and Freedom Fighters watched with mixed emotions as the soldiers within the bomb's range were suspended in the crimson air, the anti-matter's energy eating away at them, dissolving the unfortunate soldiers painfully.

After what seemed like forever, the bomb abruptly ceased, and the red aura dissipated into the air as fast as it started. What was left of the soldiers and garbage that were engulfed were flung out of the area and crashed into the sandy ground nearby.

"Of course, you just had to murder them!" Smellerbee shouted in frustration, and actually threw one knife at the Freedom Fighter's leader. Jet simply leaned back and the blade flew dangerously close to his face and hit the abandoned guard tower nearby. He laughed remorselessly at his kill, used two free fingers to remove the smoking cigarette from his mouth, turned to Smeller bee and exclaimed jokingly, "I kill EVERYONE! That's how we roll!"

The Strays squirmed uncomfortably at his exclamation and backed away slightly. Smellerbee and Longshot sighed in unison, with Smellerbee glaring daggers at Jet. "Honestly," She sighed. "You could just let them go..."

"But I don't do that, I just – I just shoot people."

"So whenever they begin running, you think: 'Stop him, he's surrendering!'"

"Exactly. I just prefer shooting things." He paused and finally noticed the Strays had backed a couple of yards away from him. "What? Is that bad?"

All the Strays quickly nodded their heads, some frightened yet curious about the deleterious firearm in his hands. After a moment of pregnant silence, someone asked, "Do all Lions have weapons like that?"

Jet's smile suddenly disappeared and was replaced with a scowl. "Yes, they do."

Those three simple words were enough to make the Strays panic. At first, they thought they were doing the right thing, fighting for their freedom from Lion oppression; only thinking after the Lion soldiers left, they would be fine. But now they worried that the Lion's technology would surely destroy them mercilessly.

The group of leather-clad Freedom Fighters sensed the uncertainty and panic of the just rebellious Strays and sighed. Jet shook his head and said loud enough for everyone to hear, "You just saw what anti-matter energy can do, right?"

The Strays fell silent, and a few nodded. Jet placed the orange-tipped cigarette back between his lips and a few puffs of cancerous smoke filled the nearly silent air. He responded, "The _Lions_," He said the word with pure venom in his voice. "They have the technology like this anti-matter that could kill hundreds, wait, no, _thousands _of people in a single shot."

The Strays paled, and Jet took the small cancer stick out of his mouth and flicked it onto the sandy blood-stained ground. He stepped forward and stomped one foot onto a Lion soldier's corpse and looked up at the Strays, fierce brown eyes staring at the mass of people with guilt and pity.

"We apologize that you all have gotten caught in this crossfire, and I'm afraid that the Lions will label you as enemies, allied with us Badgermoles. And, with that, I am sorry."

He sighed and wiped some sweat off of his brow. "But what's done is done. I am sure you have fought for freedom of your oppression, as we have done before. I know, before you go down, you want to fight back against these Lions like the wolves you really are, don't you?"

Murmurs of agreement came from the Strays, and the murmur then escalated in a few moments, growing into a mighty roar of approval. Jet smiled and stepped off of the corpse and said, "For years, we Badgermoles have been hidden from the Lion's view, secretly cleansing other compounds from _Lion filth_. Conspiring, plotting, and planning through that time has helped our scientists and inventors to create an underground save haven, having access to what is not provided here: shelter, health care, education, fresh food, and _water_."

The Strays eyes went wide at the mentioning of water and Jet took notice by removing the canteen strapped to his back and held it out in front of him. He shook it, and the sound of sloshing water brought the mass of Strays a step forward.

"Ground water." Jet said. "We'll take you to our base and house you, treat you as our own citizens, and in return all you need to do is help us win this war."

He paused, letting the Strays take in his proposal. The baffled Strays turned to each other, quietly discussing. Minutes passed as the Strays decided amongst each other, and the Freedom Fighters watched in silence. Jet turned to Fang, who seemed indifferent as Pipsqueak and The Duke climbed over him. A concerned Pipsqueak carried a clearly unconscious and heavily bleeding Blind Bandit, and Jet's eyebrows furrowed as he cursed under his breath. His narrowed eyes shifted from Pipsqueak to The Duke, and his eyes widened slightly.

The Duke struggled to half-carry half-lead a female Stray as leaned against him, even though she was twice his height, and Jet guessed she was about a year or two younger than him. She wore an old, plain blue short-sleeve dress that had random stains and dirt stuck onto the battered fabric. Scratched and sores trailed up her tanned arms and legs; her bare feet were coated in blood, most likely not her own. Disheveled, tangled brown hair draped down her shoulders, and ocean blue eyes stared at him with curiosity and, quite possibly, fear.

Jet turned away from the young woman once she heard the other Strays stop discussing, and that they looked at each other, then to Jet, and back to each other. There then was some sort of silent agreement, and Sokka, blue armor stained with blood, stepped out from the quiet mob toward the anticipating Freedom Fighters. He came to a halt arms reach from Jet, and held out his hand.

The leader of the Freedom Fighters smiled and took the hand, shaking it with his own gloved one.

"Alright then, get the rest of your pack ready. We'll be leaving in an hour."

* * *

It was an unusual sight to the 100-year old dragon as his robotic eyes focused.

Two young men, from two entirely different lifestyles and places, shook hands in the center of the gore filled battlefield. Fang sighed in relief that the Freedom Fighters were completely covered from neck to toes in their enhanced armor, that way their metal appendages were hidden from the already frightened Stray's views. Even Longshot wore sunglasses to conceal his mechanized eyes.

The dragon nearly laughed at how different the Freedom Fighters looked from the Strays. One example that was the Freedom Fighters were much, _much_ lighter skinned than the tanned Strays, causing Fang to believe the Strays to be of Native American descent. He would have to ask Hei Bai once they got back.

* * *

_She sat cross-legged on the colorful, elegant carpet, listening to the wondrous music flowing into her ears. Her mother, dressed in one of her expensive outfits, strummed skillfully on the polished guitar. A single green eye noticed that none of the servants were home, which was unusual in itself. It was even more unusual that she heard her father in the next room, arguing loudly at whoever was on the hologram projector. _

_But what was that noise coming from the window? _

_The girl stood, nearly tripping on her pale green dress, and rushed over to the window. To see through it, she had to stand on the tip of her toes and latch onto the windowsill, as tall as her 2-year-old legs would lift her. _

_Her only functional eye widened at the curious sight. On the street, colossal automobiles were sailing through the streets, stopping at every doorstop, dropping off five to three armed cyborgs._

_The horrible machines automatically activated, their hollow eyes begin to glow, their three identical jets that replaced the legs blasted out air to keep it upright and moving, and their arms replaced with gatling guns and net launchers and any other weapons. Spines and spikes consisting of pure green energy stuck out of their open fissures on their backs. Capacious white plates of metal covered most of its seemingly muscular body, and a different set of numbers painted onto the cyborg's face plate._

_The girl watched with curiosity as three of them entered the house across the street, gliding to the door, and to the girl's horror, one of them began shooting the door down with its gatling gun, blasting the door off of its hinges and sending splinters everywhere. They entered the house, and she heard shouting and an emotionless voice giving orders. After a few seconds, she heard more gunfire and a loud 'thud', along with a scream of terror. _

_The cyborgs then came back out onto the street, two dead bodies on one of their shoulders, the blood brightly contrasting with the white metal. Two more of the emotionless robots followed; an old woman being walked out at gunpoint, tears streaming down her face. In the woman's arms were a small pink bundle and a tiny pale arm waving out of it._

_The baby's cry rang in the girl's ears as she watched the cyborgs shove the woman into the armored truck. She turned her head to see the down the street, and couldn't believe her eye._

_Dozens upon dozens of cyborgs are on the streets, carrying of shoving other civilians around. Bodies of those who resisted were piled carelessly on the street, their blood creating puddles on the streets. Innocent families and mourners were shoved into the behemothic armored trucks without any mercy._

"_Toph?" Her mother asked, leaving the guitar on the chair as she walked over to the window. "What are you looking at?"_

_Toph turned back to her mother with wide eyes, confusion and terror trapped in her mind._

"_The Lions are here."_

* * *

Katara woke with a start, hastily sitting up and out of breath. Her sight was fogged and blurred, and a voice announced, "Oh! She's awake!"

She blinked and a once her vision cleared, and the first thing she saw were pure white blankets. The scent of antiseptic and blood jetted into her nostrils as she breathed in and looked down.

She was lying in a slightly wrinkled hospital bed, and her clothes replaced by a thin hospital gown. Looking down at her hands and arms, she immediately noticed that they were not usually covered in their usual dirt and grime, but scrubbed down and hygienic, the smell of soap still lingering off of her skin, making her wonder if she should be thankful or creeped out. Her hair itself felt silky and soft, but noticeably shorter. What happened?

"Are you alright?" The voice asked. Katara looked up in surprise. Standing across the room was an old woman with a slight slouch, grey hair put into traditional Strays 'hair loopies', wrinkles from stress and sadness, and light blue eyes that were kind, but Katara knew they've seen many horrible things in life.

The old woman wore blue blood-stained surgeon's scrubs, and a equally bloody surgical mask around her neck and hanging off of her front. A pair of gore covered plastic gloves sat on a pink towel next to the sink, where the woman was washing some surgical instruments.

Katara's eyes widened at the sight of running water, and she opened her mouth, only for words to get caught in her mouth as memories began rushing back. She placed a hand against her head and felt lightly wrapped bandages instead of skin and hair.

"You are confused, aren't you?" The old woman asked, turning off the sink and walking over. Katara nodded, watching as the surgeon sat on another identical hospital bed beside hers. The surgeon smiled and continued, "Well, for starters, you're no longer in that God awful Compound #5354 anymore. The Freedom Fighters and General Bei Fong made sure of that."

"General Bei Fong?" Katara croaked; her voice hoarse and throat dry from disuse. The matron stood and walked back over to the sink, conjured a small plastic cup from one of the drawers, and walked back to Katara with a full cup of water. The younger female Stray nearly snatched it out of the other woman's hand, but restrained herself until the surgeon handed it to her, and then Katara drank it unhurriedly, savoring the clean water, heck the first fresh and clean water she has had ever had. The surgeon watched with a sad smile, saying, "You don't need to drink that slowly, child. We have much more water than that."

"Who," Katara coughed, and then cleared her throat. "Who are you?"

"My name is Yugoda, a Medical Surgeon and Doctor for this city."

"Where are we?"

Yugoda chuckled, smiling with her unnaturally white teeth.

"Welcome, to Omashu."


	6. Chapter 6 PLUCK

**Author's Note – Alright, my comrades, let us venture forward into the story! And those who are waiting for the new chapter of **_**Heart or Death**_**,****we'll finish the chapter after we publish this one. We work very hard in this story, even taking research from things such as: **_**Fight Science**_**, **_**the Illustrated Atlas of the Human Body**_**, **_**Barefoot in the Rubble**_**, and such informational books by their own authors. It helps that our (Daeth and Death) mother is experienced in the medical arts.**

**Thank you to all who read and review this story. Every (positive) review this, or really any story we write, makes us want to jump of and down happily and roll on the floor laughing our heads off as the authorities drag us back into the asylum. **

**RandomPow3r – Don't worry, I'm trying to add as many Avatar: the Last Airbender characters in this story. Maybe all of them, if possible.**

**RandomosityByImagination – Zuko will be a temporary antagonist, but is a 'good guy' later. And Zuko's not going to be in this chapter, sorry. Maybe the next one, since this one got _WAY_ too long...**

**Tenneyshoes – Aang's character should show up sometime soon if we can organize these story notes, and Toph's back-story is also accompanied by the narrator's back-story, which will also be very important. And there will be ships in this story! Skyships and spaceships. =3**

**748 -**** In mandarin this number is pronounced "qī sì bā". If these numbers are stated in certain tones, it has a meaning which roughly translates into: "Why don't you go die?" **

**P.L.U.C.K. = Politically Lying Unholy ** **Cowardly Killers**

* * *

"_A whole race Genocide, _

_Taken away all of our pride, _

_A whole race Genocide, _

_Taken away, _

_Watch Them all fall down. _

_Revolution, the only solution, _

_The armed response of an entire nation, _

_Revolution, the only solution, _

_We've taken all your shit, now it's time for restitution. _

_Recognition, Restoration, Reparation, _

_Recognition, Restoration, Reparation, _

_Watch them all fall down. _

_Revolution, the only solution, _

_The armed response of an entire nation, _

_Revolution, the only solution, _

_We've taken all your shit, now it's time for restitution. _

_The plan was mastered and called Genocide (Never want to see you around) _

_Took all the children and then we died, (Never want to see you around) _

_The few that remained were never found, (Never want to see you around) _

_All in a system of Down...Down..._

_Down...Down...Walk Down... _

_Watch them all fall down, _

_..._

_All in a system, down."_

_- P.L.U.C.K by System of A Down_

* * *

"Abaddon, why do you keep doing that to me?" Tops asked shaking her head, trying to clear her mind. Whenever we go through another one of her old memories, the human always got upset and seemed to be in pain.

I continued grinning, tilting my head slightly to the side. **"What is that 'that' that you speak of?"**

"I'm going to ignore that you just said 'that' about three times in a row," Toph placed her head in her hands and groaned. "I mean, why do you keep replaying those – those _things _every single time I get here?"

"**By if you mean **_**things**_** are your memories, I mean that you aren't looking at them hard enough." **

"Not looking hard enough? What do you mean by that?" Toph shouted, turning to me with anger radiating off of her. She grabbed my bare shoulders and stared furiously at my invisible eyes. "I suffered through those memories, faced those things over and over again in my dreams. What am I not seeing!"

I laughed eerily, and Toph gritted her teeth, eyes narrowing. "What's so funny?"

"**That you think you can threaten me."**

Black tendrils of shadow morphed out of the darkness behind her, and shot at the automaton with blinding speed. Her eyes widened and she nimbly dodged by only an inch, landing on her left arms and rolling onto her feet a yard to my right. The tendrils didn't stop flying, hitting me square in the chest, but erupting into grey smoke the moment it came into contact with my skin.

I inhaled the smoke and sighed, turning to my startled houseguest. Starting to walk towards her, I felt large tendrils morph behind me, the tips of the dark vines transforming into the heads of huge snakes. They hissed menacingly; fangs extended, venom dripping from them.

Toph froze where she stood, mechanical eyes darting at the air around me in alarm. By the eye's reflection, I saw dozens of snake heads shifting and slithering around me, along with my crimson aura now emanating off of me like a wildfire, illuminating the heads in the almighty red glow.

"**Everything in this realm belongs to me, **_**human**_**. I believe it is time for you to leave." **Tentacles of shadow sprouted and twisted around her ankles, rooting her to the spot. She struggled at the restraints as the snakes slithered forward. Eyes wide, she stumbled and fell on her back, more tentacles wrapping around her wrists. She immediately began struggling even more at the restraints, hopelessly, slashing at the ever-growing tentacles with her arm blades. She shouted, "What the hell are you doing!"

"**Ah, this reminds me of the first time we met each other..." **I chuckled, ignoring her question as the snakes were within striking distance, and I held up my hand and they paused. I leaded my head back, grinning at the blank sky. Toph stopped resisting for a moment and listened.** "Two failed experiments, given one more chance by an exorcised tyrant. Seems like something from a fairy tale...a demented fairy tale at that."**

A scowl was plastered to Toph's face as I lowered my head and smiled. **"Goodbye, Subject Pi. **_**Au revoir**_**." **

The snakes lunged, muffling the loud curse resounding from her throat. I turned away from the body, and started walking to the endless horizon, grinning.

* * *

**- REBOOTING - **

"...Hei Bai? Can you hear me?" His master's voice asked. The obsidian golem groaned, still laying face-down on the wire covered ground. His eyes cracked open, and his eyes focused enough to know the lights had been turned on, and a shadow loomed over his head.

The colossal animated obsidian being's head was pounding; a headache clearly there. He sighed and slowly stood up, the simple movement sending more pain through his fired hardware.

"Jesus, I thought you were dead for a second there, Hei Bai." His master sighed, and the golem gasped once his head stopped spinning.

"Master! Are you okay!" He half-shouted half-asked, startling his superior. Dark red bandages were stuck out of her shirt collar and wrapped around her left arm, along with a sling keeping the weakened arm from swaying limply at her side. Dark circles underneath her eyes made the golem wonder how long he'd been unconscious.

Her eyebrows rose slightly and she scoffed, replying, "Well, I can walk, does that count?"

"That's not funny!" Hei Bai shouted in panic, ludicrously flailing his arms around. He noticed Toph was avoiding eye contact; a sure sign that his master was not okay. He then fell silent and had a sudden interest in his feet, muttering shamefully, "I apologize, Master, that I could not have been of more help to you in the fight..." He bowed in respect, not raising his head by keeping his fixated on the ground. "...I deserve whatever punishment you find fit."

There was a hesitant silence that carried for a few seconds, until she asked, exasperated, "Are you stupid or something?"

Hei Bai stayed silent, causing her to sigh and roll her eyes. Unexpectedly, the golem felt an automaton hand slam into his forehead and raised his head impetuously, leveling his head eye-to-eye with his master. One pale green eye and dark red eye burned straight into his pure white ones.

"Look, Hei Bai," She continued, shaking her head in disapproval. "You're becoming more and more of a lapdog each day. There was nothing you could have done to help, Hei Bai. It was out of your power, and I find no reason to punish someone for something out of their control. You're not working for those Lions anymore, Hei Bai. I will never resort to their level, got that?"

"Y—yes, Master Bei Fong."

"Good." Toph then patted the ten foot tall golem on the head playfully and then turned around, walking back to the open iron doors. Hei Bai began lumbering forward and noticed Toph yawn loudly and stretch while they walked; her blind eye bloodshot. "Come on, we need to go greet the guests. I believe the _little sheep_ woke up."

* * *

"Omashu?" Katara asked, confused. "What's Omashu?"

Yugoda smiled and answered, "Omashu is the second largest subterranean city governed by the secret society of Badgermoles."

Katara was even more confused, and Yugoda let out a short laugh. The doctor then added, "The Badgermoles are the remnants of the automatons and robots that were committed to genocide years ago."

"Genocide? Automatons? Robots?"

"Yes, the years after the world was...depleted...all the world's governments began trying to find ways to restore the world or even _adapt_ people to the new world."

"What do you mean by 'adapt'?"

Yugoda sighed. "Let me start at the very beginning. At first, they – the governments – they created the skycrafts and the City of Eden; it's where the Lions currently live and thrive. Once they did that, they assembled the rest of the world's vital recourses and treasures and placed them into the city. After that, they decided who would go into the city and who would be left behind."

"The Lions and the Strays."

"Exactly. The people brought into the city of Eden were government officials, important figures in society, and those wealthy enough to afford living there. Some of the wealthy brought servants and workers with them, only totaling up to 40,000,000 people. The entire world in all had at least 7 billion people back then."

"So, the rest of the people were left behind?"

"Sadly, yes. The City of Eden was then lifted into the air, becoming the immeasurable floating city it was destined to become. As it lifted into the air, the ones left behind were ungoverned and the world fell into a state of disorder and panic."

"But what about the Lion guards? The compounds?"

"Those came in the time of the Badgermoles, but we're not there yet. From where we left off of, the City of Eden lifted higher into the atmosphere where the air was much cleaner and colder than the rising temperature on earth. The city was prosperous for years, while the world below became psychotic; people began plundering each other's houses, murdering each other, some even turning to cannibalism and mass suicide. The people had become savages from food, water, and the natural and necessary for human survival. During the years of turmoil, the citizens and government of Eden saw what the people of earth were doing, and the government tried to stop the fighting by sending down soldiers."

"But how would soldiers help the people?"

"They didn't." A new but familiar voice said. Both Strays turned to the door of the hospital room in surprise. There, standing at the doorway, stood Katara's grandmother, Kanna (also known as Gran Gran). The grandmother was no longer wearing her old tattered clothing, but instead was dressed in surgeon's scrubs identical to Yugoda's, minus all the blood. She continued, "The soldiers were sent to _exterminate_ the people on earth."

"But, of course, there was so many people on earth that task only succeeded in enraging the people of earth, and they tried to the City of Eden by stealing the guard's skycrafts to get there." Kanna continued. "It caused a brief two year war against the earth and the sky, and at the end, the City of Eden was the victor by bombarding the major settlements the people of earth lived in, killing millions. From there, the war ended and the people of earth slowly and painfully died.

"Nevertheless, dozens upon dozens of the people of earth snuck into the city, most of them undetected thanks to a young disguised heroine by the name of _the Painted Lady_. But that's a different story. Once the war ended, the citizens of Eden noticed eventually noticed that there were more people than before on the floating city, but the government did nothing until a decade ago."

Katara gasped. "Y-you mean this happened after I was born?"

"Yes, Katara." Kanna answered sadness evident in her eyes. "You weren't born in the compound; you were only four years old when the Lions herded us into those wretched places, but life before the compounds weren't very different so you probably don't remember. They put us in there so there was no possible interaction between the people of earth, the Strays, and the ones in the city, the Badgermoles.

"A decade ago the original, or first, Badgermoles that snuck in had died and there were only ethnic Badgermoles left. But that didn't stop the Lions. They went out and began treating the ethnic Badgermoles like animals, treating innocent people as if they were livestock and slaves. The Lions were allowed to do whatever they wanted to them, even if it was beatings, rapes, or murders. Their leader, Ozai, didn't care at all.

"But then Ozai's brother and former leader, Iroh, suggested using the Badgermoles for something..._useful_. So Ozai sent cyborgs, emotionless, automatic monstrosities, to 'round up' the Badgermoles and ship them back to earth. But it didn't stop there. They then put them in concentration camps, not allowing the Badgermoles to leave for whatever reason.

"In those horrid camps is where the _testing_ happened. The around 10,000 ethnic Badgermoles and those who are in-laws with the ethnic Badgermoles were put in horrible tests, such as 0one, muscle, and nerve transplantations _without anesthesia_, head injury experiments, freezing experiments where people were put in tanks with freezing water for up to eight hours, _weapons, bombs, and poison testing _–"

Katara shuddered at the thought.

"—Salt water experiments so humans could drink the tainted ocean water, high altitude and pressure experiments, and many, many more _unspeakable_ experiments. More than half of them died painful and abominable deaths, and the rest died slowly of malnutrition and sickness.

"Then one day, a group of young Badgermoles fought against the scientists and guards of the concentration camp and thanks to General Bei Fong and the Legendary Teo defeated the Lions, but at the cost of Teo's life...and General Bei Fong's right arm and eye."

Katara's eyes widened as her mind pieced everything together.

Right arm?

_Metal right arm, three blades extended._

Right eye?

_Pure black eye with a crimson ring, straight into her soul._

"Is General Bei Fong the Blind Bandit?" Katara asked. Surprised, Yugoda nodded and Kanna replied simply, "Yes."

"And so, the rest of the Badgermoles built this city?"

"Under the leadership of King Bumi and help from the brilliant mind of General Bei Fong they created this underground city out of the Lion's view. During that time, the citizens constructed thought/nerve controlled bionic limbs modified for battle, automated robotic eyes, and even android bodies for coma patients and those with extreme disabilities."

Katara noticed at that moment her mouth was hanging open, and she promptly shut it. Clearing her throat, she asked, "So, now, they declared war against the Lions and we sided with the Badgermoles?"

"Yes."

"I only have one more question."

"What is it, Katara?"

"Why do you call them the Badgermoles?"

She noticed the two older women noticeably pale underneath their dark skin, and Yugoda stood, clearing her throat. "Well," The surgeon said, walking over to the counter and pulling some plain blue sweatpants and sweat shirt out of nowhere and handed them to Katara. "I don't want to tell you such a...um..._upsetting_ story, so we don't speak about _those certain experiments_ to the Badgermoles. All I can tell you are that those atrocious experiments are referred to as...the _Unspeakables._"

The younger Stray's curiosity was still unsatisfied. She asked simply, "Did anyone survive those experiments?"

Yugoda and Kanna turned to each other, exchanging uncertain glances, and Kanna sighed; closing her eyes. Katara's grandmother then opened her eyes, eyes filled with pity and compassion, and Katara knew it wasn't directed towards her.

"There were _24 subjects_ that were put through those inhumane and inexorable tests in order to create the _perfect human being_ to survive our crumbling world. Only...only _seven_ of those tortured souls survived, and all of them were driven to, or on the border of, insanity from the torture. A few of the unfortunate beings are here in this very city, but I would like it if you wouldn't ask about whom it was, Katara. They have already been through it, and wouldn't want to think about it anymore. Do you understand?"

Katara nodded, not knowing what else to say.

"Good, now get dressed, General Bei Fong requires your presence."

* * *

"_What an amazing specimen!" A voice boomed, echoing off of the artificial walls. Once more, the glass world around me shifted and another shadow came into view. Two of them at once, odds of beating both were 0 to 10. But these hairless monkeys weren't going to take me down like the rest of my people. "This little fella is called a _Scolopendra gigantea_. He's about 30 cm (12 in) and very aggressive. His species has 22 well-marked sections and each having one pair of legs."_

_I began clawing and scratching at the looking glass, hopelessly running and jumping with my multitude of legs, aiming for the light coming from the open ceiling. What is with these monsters and all of this fake architecture? Another voice resounded, "A feisty one isn't he?"_

_The first voice laughed. "Just make sure he doesn't bite you. One civilian is already in the hospital."_

"_What? Is he okay?"_

"_Well, he's in severe pain, got some swelling and a heavy fever."_

_Serves him right, I thought as I tried to stand on my last back legs to reach with my first front legs. Due to my unfortunate anatomy, I fell backwards and landed shell first on the glass floor. _

"_Just from one bite?"_

"_No, actually, two, the second one tearing most of the skin on his left hand off. The poor man didn't notice the thing climbing until it bit his ankle."_

"_Why didn't he just brush the darn thing off?"_

"_This is why the specimen is here. It is very unusual than any other of its kind...and most likely the last of its kind."_

"_What do you mean, 'unusual'?"_

"_I mean that it could sense whenever the old man's hand came near, and instead of crawling away, it jumped onto his hand and began tearing at his skin, causing blood to – "_

"_Alright, Shyu, please, don't go into detail!"_

"_Sorry, grandfather Kaja."_

_Such weak stomached monkeys, wearing their light colored coats and colossal tools of destruction. Suddenly, I felt the world shift upward as one of their deformed paws carried it. The first voice, Shyu, I believe, began saying, _

"_He also looks healthy enough." The jar turned and one of the monster's faces came into view. "Do you think he'll survive the procedure?"_

_I stopped trying to escape. What procedure?_

"_Yes, although we still need a human subject."_

"_Don't worry." The world around me went still once more as it was placed on the shelf. "Lord Ozai has sent the White Army to gather the last of the ethnic Badgermoles."_

_Badgermoles? What's a Badgermole? _

_The two silhouettes began drifting farther and farther off into the distance._

"_Oh well. I believe it's time for lunch. "_

"_Alright. Goodbye, little bug!"_

"_...I feel like we should give him a name. _Specimen #748_ is sort of hard to say over and over again."_

"_How about..._Leviathan_?"_

"_That seems fitting enough."_

_The second the doors closed I once more began scratching at the looking glass. How dare they pick my own nomenclature without my consent! Leviathan, as_ they_ classified as a 'sea monster' referred to by their pathetic myths. I also questioned why they named me after the gatekeeper and one of the Seven Princes of Hell. And those naked monkeys think _we're _dumb._

_Humans. _

_Just because they are larger than us and can create such horrible contraptions, they think they own everything. _

_And where did that get us?_

_The humans laughed in their achievements, the world slowly sank into the fiery lake of sulfur. We started drowning, but not like we'd sink any farther. Mankind desperately tried to pull us back up to the surface, but it was too late._

_The humans condemned us all to Hell._

* * *

**TEN WHOLE PAGES. 0_0**


	7. Chapter 7 Haunted

**Author's Note – Hey there! Yes, you, human: the one with the face and the hair and the clothes. Read and review the story please. A favorite/follow/review would make us very happy. =3**

**Tenneyshoes – SO MANY QUESTIONS! (;_;) Where to begin, where to begin... **

**Abaddon is the narrator, right? And you said in the last chapter that that wasn't his actual name?**

**Yes, Abaddon/Leviathan/Specimen #748 (yes, they all are the same being) is the narrator. His real name is not yet being revealed until later. **

**There isn't any chance he and Aang are one and the same is there? Or is Aang going to be a Lion?**

**There is absolutely no chance of Abaddon/Leviathan/Specimen #748 and Aang being the same, since Abaddon is such an amoral, sadistic, violent, ruthless, destructive, sinister, carnivorous character while Aang is carefree, naïve, respects life, and a vegetarian. Aang will not be a Lion. **

**You said something about a war against earth and sky? Is Aang in the City of Eden?**

**Yes, there was a war against the earth and the sky years before the story, a very important. In case you didn't read that part or skipped it, it all summarizes to the death of millions of people of earth and some of the earthlings sneaking into the City of Eden: Badgermoles. Aang **_**was**_** in the City of Eden, and should be in this chapter unless it once again gets too long or the storyline goes too fast. **

**Yes, the people here of Flipping Tables Productions love our wordplay. =3**

**So are some of the seven that survived the Unspeakable experiments Jet, Smellerbee, ect? And is Toph one of them? **

**I am neither allowed nor willing to say who the seven that survived the **_**Unspeakable **_**experiments. Sorry, you will have to read to find out that.**

**Are we ever going to actually 'speak' of these experiments?**

**We will 'speak' of those...terrible, horrendous, damnable experiments...those certain experiments even make me ashamed of thinking about it and actually putting it into a story. **

**Will we hear more about Teo?**

**We will hear about Teo's story and unfortunate demise eventually. **

***Whistles* Wow. That was a lot of questions, Comrade Tenneyshoes. It took almost two hours to answer those at the Flipping Table Productions meeting. Authorization of revealing information takes forever, in my opinion. I'm the author even! What the heck! I'm the one who should authority of these things! Ah, oh well...**

**Thank you so much for reading and reviewing our story! And the answers to our unanswered questions are yet to be revealed. **

**Although Comrade Tenneyshoes had many good questions, he/she/it was the only two people to leave a review of a TEN PAGE LONG chapter... And that slightly aggravates me. If we work on a chapter for an entire week and all we get is two reviews. That offends, insults, and worries me at the same time. It worries me because I'm not sure if people have become disinterested or find the story boring. 0.0**

**Anyways, I will thank all those who have read this story. You know who you are. =3**

**Phalanx CIWS - an anti-ship missle defense system; consisting of a radar-guided 20 mm (0.79 in) Gatling gun mounted on a swiveling base, the Phalanx is used by the United States America on every class of surface combat ship.**

**Aggregat-4 / Vergeltungswaffe-2 / V-2 rocket - (German: Vergeltungswaffe 2, i.e. _retaliation weapon_ 2), technical name Aggregat-4 (A4), was a ballistic missile that was developed at the beginning of the Second World War in Germany, specifically targeted at London and later Antwerp. The liquid-propellant rocket was the world's first long-range combat-ballistic missile and first known human artifact to enter outer space. It was the progenitor of all modern rockets, including those used by the United States and Soviet Union's space programs.  
**

**M4 Carbine - a family of firearms tracing its lineage back to earlier carbine versions of the M16 rifle, all based on the original AR-15 rifle designed by Eugene Stoner and made by ArmaLite. The M4 is a shorter and lighter variant of the M16A2 assault rifle, with 80% parts commonality.**

* * *

"_You're broken, so am I_

_I'm better off alone_

_No one to turn to and nothing to call my own_

_Outspoken, so am I_

_Explosive words that your world wouldn't understand_

_Turn away again_

_You're beaten, so am I_

_I've got a heart of stone_

_No medication can cure what has taken hold_

_You're hurting, so will I_

_When I awake and remember why I've been running from your_

_World_

_Dishonored by your world_

_Your world_

_I'm haunted by your world_

_My blood is cold as ice_

_Or so I have been told_

_Show no emotion, and it can destroy your soul_

_Another sacrifice_

_To a tormentor your world wouldn't understand_

_Turn away again_

_You're angered, so am I_

_A thousand fires burn_

_A land of darkness from which I cannot return_

_You're aching, so will I_

_When I awake and discover that I have been damaged by your_

_World_

_Dishonored by your world_

_Your world_

_I'm haunted by your world_

_You're frightened, so am I_

_A world of demons wait_

_Watching the movements and filling my heart with hate_

_You're burning, so will I_

_When I awake and discover how I have been ravaged by your_

_World_

_Dishonored by your world_

_Your world_

_I'm haunted by your world."_

_- Haunted by Disturbed_

* * *

Groaning, the Lion soldier shifted his weight on the chair. Slowly, his eyes opened slightly, closed, and then burst open in shock. "What the—" He looked down at his wrists and felt that his ankles were tied harshly onto the blood-stained wooden chair. "Where am I!"

White bandages, slightly tinted pink, were wrapped tightly around his exposed abdomen. The small soundproof room was dark, only lit by a single, swinging light bulb. Across from the panicking and unarmored soldier was a long metal table; lying out on an equally long white cloth were many different types of deadly firearms.

"Oh look, you're awake." A devious feminine voice announced from behind him; causing the man to freeze. The sound of light footsteps approached his ears, and suddenly his captor walked in front of him. He gasped as she turned towards him, a smirk on the mercenary's pale face. A grin stretched across her face, long black hair held partially held up by covering one of her brown eyes. "Now we can get started. Just to let you know, this isn't personal, even if the Lions were the ones to blast my arm off. I'm just here for my payment."

The Lion soldier felt the blood drain from his face once he saw the girl's arms, uncovered by her dark red sleeveless shirt.

Replacing the arm from her elbow to her fingertips of her left arm was an exact metal replica, but a long slender backsaw with curved silver teeth extending out the back of the replaced joint.

He was petrified, not even reacting when the girl unexpectedly tied a thick blue blindfold around his head; her cold artificial fingers brushing against his skin, causing the soldier to shiver, chills rolling down his spine.

"Before we begin," She said, and he heard the sound of metal bumping against metal, and the familiar _click _of a gun being cocked. "I believe it would be rude if we don't introduce each other. So...what's your name?"

"M—my name is..." He gulped and felt sweat roll down his face. "My name is Qin Lee. A—and I—I worked in the communications department to send messages straight to Lord Ozai—"

The feeling of a metal barrel against his forehead caused the flow of words from his mouth at get caught in his throat, and his body involuntarily froze.

"Well then, Qin Lee today is the day you die. My name is June. I would say it was nice to meet you, but that would've been a lie. Goodbye."

"What? Wait, no, please! Don't fire! Please don't kill me—!"

The sound of a single gunshot rang into June's ears, and she smiled.

"Oh, don't worry, we've just started."

* * *

"Yes! 2400 Note Streak!"

"Ugh, stop showing off, Duke!"

"I already told you, it's _the _Duke!"

"Whatever!"

The argument was suddenly drowned out by music and the sound of tapping controllers as Smellerbee turned up the speakers with a remote. Empty plastic bottles and aluminum cans along with bags of various snacks were littered on the brown stained carpet, strangely in harmony with the wooden walls that had blueprints of machines and weapons, photos and portraits of different Badgermoles, and one of the walls completely covered in a white projector screen; the projector hanging from the ceiling.

A large glass cabinet overflowing with game disks and game controllers sat in the back of the room and a pool table with blood-stained leather armor piled onto it sitting next to the cabinet; a giant brown leather couch sitting in the center of the room. Jet, Longshot, and Pipsqueak crowded the old piece of furniture, Smellerbee sitting next to the couch on a faded beanbag, all of the Freedom Fighters watching as The Duke and Sneers violently slamming on their guitar shaped controllers, the Duke grinning toothily as sweat rolled down Sneers face. The screen had a startlingly fast song scrolling down the screen, the point counter pointing in the Duke's character.

Expectedly, Sneers' side of the screen was struck with computerized lightning, and The Duke's side lit on fire, the screen saying in large white letters: 'PLAYER ONE WINS'.

Everyone but Sneers burst out cheering, giving the youngest Freedom Fighter pats on the back a light hug from the colossal Pipsqueak. As Sneers almost had steam firing out of this ears, a light knock came from the wood sliding door, a muffled voice asking politely, "May we come in?"

"Sure!" Jet called over, standing up and muting the game. "Come on in."

The door slid open, Yugoda standing at the doorframe in her bloodied surgeon attire. She smiled sweetly, greeting, "Hello everyone, how are you today?"

A chorus of grunts and The Duke standing up and waving, shouting, "Hello!" answered her question. Somewhat expectedly, a tanned boney hand 'lightly' shoved the bloody surgeon to the side, and Kanna stepped forward, asking bluntly, "Where did General Bei Fong run of to?"

The Freedom Fighters exchanged confused and puzzled glances while Smellerbee answered, "I think Toph went to check on Hei Bai. Fang said the golem glitched out or something."

Kanna grunted and mumbled in annoyance, "I thought I told her if she moved too much her wounds would open again."

"What do you mean?" The Duke asked. "Toph woke up a few hours ago to go to the training room before she checked on Hei Bai."

"What? Is that child _trying_ to bleed to death?" Kanna nearly shrieked, and Yugoda shook her head in disapproval. "Oh well, I guess Katara will have to stay with you until General Bei Fong is found. Alright, Katara 1hese are the Freedom Fighters – wait a minute, where did Katara go?"

Kanna stuck her head back out of the room and looked up and down the stainless steel walls, only for hr granddaughter to have disappeared.

She muttered, "Oh crap."

* * *

"Hei Bai?"

"Yes Master?"

Toph paused in front of her room's large metal door, and sighed tiredly.

"Go check on the little sheep; if she's up...distract her until I get there. I...I have to go change my bandages. These things are getting really getting sticky and itchy."

Hei Bai sighed at the obvious lie but bowed. "Yes, Master."

She nodded slightly and turned to the door and placed a hand on the wide green scanner next to the door and a bright green line rolled across it's dark green screen, and the door abruptly slid open, revealing a excessively littered room overflowing with blueprints and notes; the rest of the room pitch black due to the lack of light.

A few blueprints flew out of the room by the hallway's cold draft, and the wounded automaton grunted lightly as she stepped inside, the lights automatically flickering to life. Picking up some of the papers, his eyes widened and he straightened up, asking, "Master, are you still working on planning to do the _Magnum Opus Project_...?"

Toph quickly snatched the papers out of his hands and growled, "No, of course not." Arms trembling slightly, her hands crumpled up the papers as she walked back in, leaving a very confused Hei Bai standing outside. _But... _He looked down at his hand and saw a small ink stain. _There were fresh notes and observations on them..._

"Darn it, how did I get lost?" An unfamiliar, female voice asked to no one in particular. The golem stopped his train of thought and froze, not recognizing the voice, and he knew all of the 5,211,314 of personnel, human and non-human, in the facility. He knew a Stray, fresh from the surface, would not comprehend a ten-foot-tall obsidian giant with glowing white eyes. Sounds of light footfall came closer and closer to the corner in front of him, and his radiating white eyes darted around the wide metal hallway, and spotted a large vending machine full of the Freedom Fighter's usual snacks (he really wondered why those adolescent agitators didn't just put the machine in their meeting room) and sighed at his ridiculous but only idea.

* * *

_This place is like a huge metal labyrinth... _Katara thought, and sighed in frustration. Walking down the hall, she wondered how she got lost in the first place, but was shaken out of her thoughts by the ground underneath her shake ever so slightly and the sound of large bulky footsteps.

"Is anyone there?" Katara asked, head darting around. Nothing responded but the sound of rustling...paper? Walking further into the immense hallway, she turned the corner to see a large bright colored rectangular machine she only saw _when the Lion soldiers accidently left their base doors open. They called it a vending machine, _Katara thought, walking forward cautiously. She repeated, "Is a—anybody there?"

As Katara approached, she heard the faint whirr of machinery and chill of a cold breeze. Looking farther down the hall, she saw a large metal doorway, with about a dozen loose blue papers scattered on the floor in front of it.

"Anyone there?" She strode forward, past the machine, only for her bar foot to bump into something hard and smooth, and instinctively she shifted back, thinking it just the vending machine.

Until, it _moved_.

She turned to the shaded side of the machine, and she gasped, scrambling backwards.

Looming over her with its impressive and brawny figure was a massive monster of darkened stone. To Katara's surprise, it seemed more like a large muscular man of stone than pictures of robots she's read, except it was twice her size and would have been a successful bodybuilder if human.

Burly arms and legs made from some dark stone were held together by an overlay of shining plates of silver, even small metal hinges on its sausage sized fingers. It stared down at her with pure white glowing eyes and in the center of the able-bodied golem's chest was an equally white shining orb floating in its spherical capsule. Small metal arms connected to its actual anatomy were only an inch from the pure sphere and small tendrils of white seemed to trail from the orb into the arms, and Katara saw between its metal overlay were thin grey lines travelling through its body; acting as a sort of robotic heart, pumping the pure energy as if it was blood.

Its head looked like a motorcycle helmet, except its 'neck' holding it up was made up of wires and metal coated pipes. Where a human's ears would have been were rounded rectangular buttons, and the dark tinted glass that took up most of the front of its face had its glowing eyes –which were wide with surprise – and suddenly a few small green bars appeared on where its right cheek would've been and the bars raised as its voice got louder, the colors turning from green, yellow, and red when he was speaking loudest.

Katara didn't hear what it was saying; all she heard was her startled gasp and the sound of her own footfall.

"Come back!" It shouted, and to her utter shock it didn't sound like she thought it would, it had no robotic sound to it. It sounded like a young man with a deep voice, and a rough foreign accent she couldn't recognize. "Stop, please!"

On impulse, Katara kept running until she reached the open metal door, and her mind didn't register the unnatural darkness in the room. She just ran in, the sound of rustling paper under her feet.

"No! Don't go in there—"

The unexpected sound of the colossal metal door sliding close and the sound of multiple locks snapping shut rang in her ears, and she was plunged into darkness.

* * *

Unlike the rest of Toph's room, her private bathroom was bright and spotless. It was small, only having a shower, porcelain toilet and sink, medicine cabinet underneath the running sink and a plain rectangular mirror which Toph stared into, carefully watching her hands reflection as her metal hand began wrapping new bandages round her cleaned wounds; the old ones floating in the sink.

The exact moment she heard the main door close she finished wrapping the wound up. As she was about to get the sling for her arm, she heard the sound of rustling paper, that of which she knew wasn't from the air conditioning. She turned off the sink, and the rustling suddenly stopped.

* * *

Immediately when the door closed behind Katara, she couldn't see anything but darkness. As she shuffled forward, the low sea of papers underneath her rustled loudly.

Moving forward, she abruptly froze once she heard an unfamiliar noise: the noise of running water.

Turn slightly to the right of the darkness; she saw a small thin line of light coming from the underneath of the closed door. Katara began backing away as the sound of running water stop, and her hand bumped into a small wooden knob. As the first door opened, Katara was already closing the door to the large wardrobe, praying that whoever was coming out couldn't find her.

* * *

Opening the door, she leaned out and her eye automatically switched into thermal vision and scanned across the room, even if the bathroom lights lit up half of the room in weak light. Walking back onto the floor of blueprints and notes, the other sound of rustling had stopped, instead replaced by the slight creak of her practically empty wardrobe door.

Turning to the wardrobe itself, she slowly advanced forward to it, slowly unsheathing her three blades from her arm just in case.

Standing right in front of the door, she brought her metal arm back, ready to strike, and her bandaged hand slowly reached forward to the door handle. Just has her fingertips touched it, Toph got the sudden feeling of being plunged into freezing water, and, out of nowhere, the sounds of familiar, yet nonexistent, screaming filled her ears.

* * *

Katara almost sighed in relief when she heard the figure stumble back, but she felt her blood freeze once the figure started shouting and screaming, as if in pain.

* * *

"Augh!" Toph let out a short scream, and covered her ears with her hands and squeezed her eyes shut, only for the screaming to get suddenly louder, and voices, very familiar voices, backed up the screaming.

"_...broken...defective...she's...defective product..."_

"Stop it, shut up..." Toph grumbled, gritting her teeth.

"_She's almost blind...weak...we're more deserving than her..."_

"Shut up, shut up, SHUT UP!" Toph shouted, collapsing to her knees. "Abaddon, are you doing this...?"

"_Toph?Toph, what's happening? Why are those men hurting mommy?"_

"No." Toph's eyes shot open, and she stood up, shouting, "Stop it, Abaddon!"

"_Those...Lions. They...they tried to break me."_

Roaring in frustration, she dashed back into the bathroom, and nearly tore the cabinet door of its hinges and she began searching through the abundance of first aid supplements and medicines, until she found a well-known pill bottle.

"_The bastards tried to break me Toph..."_

With haste, she twisted the top off and took one of the pills and swallowed it. She gradually stood and sighed, putting down the bottle and sat on the closed toilet seat, head in her hands.

"_...but, Toph...Tell them, tell those Lions... that I died smiling..."_

"Damn it..." Toph muttered, and suddenly raised her head as the screaming abruptly ended, along with the voices. The noise was replaced by a low, whispering sound.

Turning her attention to the sink, and jumped slightly as the mirrors above it suddenly grew lips and whispered, _"Come nearer..."_

She blinked, and stood slowly, walking to the sink. Turning to the mirror, its lips slowly dissipated, and her reflection seemed to warp and shift, changing and morphing.

After a few seconds, staring and grinning at her from within the reflection was Abaddon, surrounded by my realm's darkness. The mirror had changed from a mirror into a simple piece of human glass separating real life for a puny human's subconscious.

I waved slightly, seeing Toph's stunned expression, greeting, **"Hello, Subject Pi."**

Her eyes changed from shock to anger, eyebrows narrowing. "What are you doing here?"

"**Aw, why are you so angry, Toph? All I did was just murder you within your subconscious. You'll be able to come back and visit once your little broken mind cools off. So, how are you, monkey?"**

"Leave me alone." Toph grumbled, turning to leave the room. "I have to go call General How."

"**You seem rather distracted, monkey. Did you have another episode, hm?"**

"I said, leave me alone—"

I kept on grinning, sarcasm slowly dripping into my warped voice. **"Did you hear their voices again? Those white coats, your birthparents, and your little, sweet, innocent Teo—"**

"AHHHHHHHHH!" She shouted, turning back to me and slamming her fists onto the counter, opening some of the wounds on her left arm and leaving a small crater where her right hand connected. "SHUT UP! I told you, leave me the fuck alone will you?"

"**What are you talking about? I'm here ro rebuild you. You know, you haven't had such a violent episode since...well...General How's son's 'Noodle Incident'. This means something is breaking you apart. What could that be, I wonder?"**

"If this is another one of your sick jokes, Abaddon, I'm not up to it." She sighed and curled her hands into fists. "I'm already on edge. Just _get out of here_."

I ignored her and began counting off my fingers what could be causing such stress. **"Hm...Known causes, known causes...Well, I think I might know one of them. Think about your father."**

Gritting her teeth in frustration, she asked, "Yeah, so what of him?"

"**Well, think about what he did to you and your poor mother. All those experiments..."**

"Fuck you motherfucker!" Toph roared, slamming her hands against the counter again, furious that I'd bring such a sensitive subject up. She spotted the pill bottle on the counter and said, "I had you beat."

"**What, you think I'm just another one of your hallucinations that your shattered mind tricks you with? No, I'm much, much more than that. I've been with you since we watched your little girl grow up, and suddenly disappear. I've been here since your little Teo pushed his last breath out of his chest. Now, back to the subject at hand, we need to find what's causing all this stress. Should I bring up another memory?"**

"NO!" Toph suddenly put her head against and counter and covered her head with her hands. "You fucking bitch, WHY!"

I smiled. **"Now now, no need to swear. I'm just doing this for your own good."**

* * *

Skyship _Ursa _was a relatively small vessel, handled by a small crew of cutthroats, captive thieves, and those who have dishonored themselves in some way. It was a rather old, outdated sky cruiser. The skyship sailed the dull orange sky, smokestacks spewing the grey pollution into the already ruined heavens. Three large nuclear reactors on the back of the ship propelled it forward, while seven smaller and thinner reactors on the underside of the ship held it in the air.

The ship was small, light, and unsuspected.

The perfect place to hide the world's most powerful _Lapis Philosophorum_.

Standing on the ship's deck, Lieutenant Jee gripped the rails, glaring down at the sea of garbage, rot, and death underneath him. His nose burned at the smell, and his fingers twitched for the M4 Carbine strapped to his back. For some bizarre reason, he had an unexplainable feeling that something, something _big_, was going to happen.

The Lion lieutenant sighed and turned away from the depressing sight and began walking back to his room, until an eerie red light moderately filled the ship's deck, stopping Jee in his tracks. Ever so slowly, he turned around, and stumbled backwards in surprise.

A large signal flare had flown from the ground below, but that wasn't what scared him. Flying over the light was a giant black and white missile, spinning and sailing toward the ship at blinding speed. The flare automatically distracted the ship's own missiles, and _Ursa_'s torpedo sized missiles flew past the flare harmlessly, while the colossal V-2 missile was only yards away.

Jee was certain the ship was screwed, and he impulsively brought his arms over his head, only for the sound of sentry gun gunfire to ring in his ears, and a huge blast of heat and the earsplitting sound to knock the soldier back.

Once he opened his eyes, what was left of the missile was a vast cloud of smoke and small pieces of metal falling loudly onto the ship's deck.

Jee saw the six of the large sentry guns, Phalanx CIWS anti-ship missile defense system, sticking out of their metal base with trails of smoke flowing out of their barrels. The Lion soldier turned to ship's bridge and past the red tinted glass was a young man about sixteen years old and wearing an upgraded Lion's soldier uniform. His brown hair was tied in a top-knot and his hands were on the sentry guns controls.

The teenager's golden eyes bore down at Jee, and a large, red scar took of most of the left side of his face. "Prince Zuko," Je muttered, nodding in thanks. Zuko's face remained indifferent.

Just before Jee could even move, he heard the sound of metal against metal, too loud to be the remnants of the blasted missile. He turned around to see dozens of grappling hooks on the ships railing, and the sounds of sirens filled Jee's ears.

Zuko's voice then rang out from the intercom, shouting,

"WE'RE UNDER ATTACK! BATTLE STATIONS!"

* * *

**Author's Note – Cliffhangers. Cliffhangers everywhere. 0.0**

**Now that you are finished reading, would you kindly review this chapter. The button's just down below. Review please!**


	8. Chapter 8 Dove & Grenade

**Author's Note – Welcome back, humans! How are all of you? To be honest, where I live it's currently hot, dry, cold, wet, none of my friends are talking to me, and my Facebook friends won't leave me alone. LIFE IS SO CONFUSING! D=**

**Oh yeah, in the last chapter, if no one could tell, Sneers and the Duke were playing Guitar Hero on the song Through the Fire and Flames by Dragonforce on expert mode. Those who don't know how incredibly difficult that song is, here's a video on youtube: watch?v=yz6MManqikg**

**Tenneyshoes – I don't mind questions, and thank you for being interested! Here, have an internet cookie. First of all, Toph does not have a daughter, but Abaddon wasn't referring to Toph in the past. Let's just say for now, that Toph had an adopted sister. That's all I can say of that for now. Now in response to your question of the character's ages, here's the list:**

**Katara: 14 -15**

**Toph: 13**

**Abaddon: 10**

**Sokka: 15 – 16**

**Hei Bai: 14**

**Fang: 100**

**Aang: ? (Not Available Yet)**

**Zuko: 16 – 17**

**Suki: 16**

**All the other characters are their canon ages.**

**RandomPow3r – I know, cliff hangers are evil, but if not that chapter would be unnaturally long. DON'T DIE MAN! DON'T GO INTO THE LIGHT! D=**

**Guest – I did give you a little rough back-story about the war between the earth and the sky, but I know, I know, this story is very confusing due to barely any back-story, but the back-story isn't given to you fully or straight out. Parts of the back-story are given out piece by piece. Think about this story as a large picture puzzle and I'm slowly giving you small pieces, but not all of them that you need. Slowly, ever so slowly, you will have the full picture at the very end. (I'll **_**try**_** to put flashbacks on every chapter if possible, to build up on the back-story. The flashbacks will be from Toph's 3****rd**** person point of views and Abbadon's 1****st**** person point of view. Just so everyone knows Abaddon is a **_**very important character**_**.)**

**RandomosityByImagination – Thank you! The fight on the skyship is going to be as realistic as possible, but with many explosions and gunfire and the like! And Lapis Philosophorum... 'Blockhead Philosopher' you say? Let me give you a hint. It has something to do with a rock and a **_**Magnum Opus**_**. (Anyone who actually figures out what it is, PLEASE DO NOT SAY WHAT IT IS IN THE REVIEWS BECAUSE IT SPOILS IT FOR THE OTHER PEOPLE.)**

**Monocular Blindness – The permanent vision loss/blindness in one eye.**

**M249 light machine gun (LMG) - an American version of the Belgian FN Minimi, a light machine gun manufactured by the Belgian company FN Herstal (FN); the M249 is manufactured in the United States and is widely used by the U.S. Armed Forces. The weapon was introduced in 1984 after being judged the most effective of a number of candidate weapons to address the lack of automatic firepower in small units. The gun provides infantry squads with the heavy volume of fire of a machine gun combined with accuracy and portability approaching that of a rifle. The M249 is gas operated and air-cooled. It has a quick-change barrel, allowing the gunner to rapidly replace an overheated or jammed barrel. A folding bipod is attached near the front of the gun, though an M192 LGM tripod is also available.**

**Stun grenade - also known as a flash grenade or flashbang, is a non-lethal explosive device used to temporarily disorient an enemy's senses. It is designed to produce a blinding flash of light and loud noise without causing permanent injury. The flash produced momentarily activates all light sensitive cells in the eye, making vision impossible for approximately five seconds, until the eye restores itself to its normal, unstimulated state. The loud blast causes temporary loss of hearing, and also disturbs the fluid in the ear, causing loss of balance.**

**Groove (engineering) - In manufacturing or mechanical engineering a groove is a long and narrow indentation built into a material, generally for the purpose of allowing another material or part to move within the groove and be guided by it. A canal cut in a hard material, usually metal. This canal can be round, oval or an arc in order to receive another component such as a boss, a tongue or a gasket. It can also be on the circumference of a dowel, a bolt, an axle or on the outside or inside of a tube or pipe etc. This canal may receive a circlip an o-ring or a gasket.**

**Livestock Branding - a technique for marking livestock so as to identify the owner. Originally, livestock branding only referred to a hot brand for large stock, though the term is now also used to refer to other alternative techniques such as freeze branding. Other forms of livestock identification include inner lip or ear tattoos, earmarking, ear tagging, and RFID tagging with a type of microchip. The semi-permanent paint markings used to identify sheep are called a paint or color brand. In the American West, branding evolved into a complex marking system still in use today.**

**.44 Auto Mag pistol - a large caliber semi-automatic pistol. It was designed between 1966 and 1971 by the Auto Mag Corporation to bring .44 magnum power to a semi-automatic pistol.**

* * *

_"From the front to the back we attack,_  
_Thats when the sky turns black._  
_Divided by all our own means,_  
_Divided by lines you can't see._  
_We've raised our fists, you know we exist,_  
_You're scared of us because we influence your kids._  
_and you paved the way that way you walk,_  
_and you dug your grave it won't stop._

_You know we got the plan hold up, pointing at your head,_  
_Laying on your back but you're better off dead._  
_Got the army with me, with the dove and grenade,_  
_Got the pin pulled out it's a fucking air raid._  
_We ride like tanks and we bite like snakes,_  
_Search and destroy we do what ever it takes._  
_I'm Undead_  
_When the shells hit the floor,_  
_Yeah undead,_  
_Let's start a war_

_I'm the man and I'm the man_  
_and everybody out there knows that I'm the baddest,_  
_I'm the baddest of em all and you just mad_  
_Cause I'm the man and I'm the man_  
_and everybody out there knows that I'm the baddest,_  
_I'm the baddest of em all and you just mad_  
_and it's so sad_

_The next time you breathe you better think of me,_  
_and your prayers thank god for the mercy of me._  
_An eye for an eye but I don't need to see,_  
_Who needs eyes mother fucker I can feel you bleed._  
_I got a plaque in the attic and the bitch is gold,_  
_Not another word till I'm platinum no, our critics talk shit_  
_Watch a bitch get rolled,_  
_I only say bitch when I see a bitch so,_

_It's too late,_  
_there's no wait it's doomsday._  
_This crusades been erased by two-face,_  
_So touche._  
_You've gone past your due date, do you crave,_  
_Scene giving you a grenade to pay._  
_Down on your knees crying for help,_  
_and you're just gonna be another notch on the belt._  
_I'm Undead_  
_and you can only blame yourself_  
_Yeah Undead_  
_and I'ma make it rain in hell."_

_- Dove & Grenade by Hollywood Undead_

* * *

Katara listened, ear pressed against the inner dresser door, and cringed as the person's shouts and screams became more frantic and psychopathic, and one of the only words she could hear clearly was 'Abaddon'.

With an animal-like roar, the being ran back to the bathroom, and Katara could hear hysterical muttering as it nearly broke off the poor cabinet door and threw out its contents in search for something.

She opened the door, just a crack, to see out of it. Turning her curious eye to the bathroom, she saw colored cylinder bottles rolling over the sea of papers, along with a shadow casting along the floor. Leaning forward even more, she saw the person move to the mirror, yet from Katara's angle, she still couldn't see its face.

The person, which Katara figured was a _she_, stood in front of the sink, hands flat with palms pressing against the counter; left arm bandaged all the way from fingertips to her shoulder, the bandages slightly bloodied. To Katara's shock, her right arm (and her entire right shoulder blade) was pure platinum, the grayish white metal gently shining in the bathroom's lights. The metal of the shoulder blade extended up the right side of her neck; her entire cheekbone was made of the light metal. If you looked closely enough, you could see that its fingertips were pointed and clear colored; most likely tipped with diamonds. Extended, razor-sharp blades extended from the person's artificial limb, recognizable blades...

Katara's eyes widened in understanding, _is this person the Blind Bandit?_

The blades unexpectedly retracted back into the metal arm, startling Katara out of her thoughts. Three lengthy indentations were on the right arm's forearm; the two outer ones starting three inches from the elbow and the middle one going all the way from the elbow to the wrist, in fact, all of them ended at the wrist. The depressions even continued to the hand, yet the ones on the hand were less apparent. At the start of the outer two - and the center of the middle – indentation, were thin and dark openings; which Katara figured the blades came from. With Katara's figuring, the indentations were where the blades fit into.

The person wore plain dark green jogging pants and barefooted, yet familiar filthy bandages were wrapped tightly around her ankles. She also had a plain green T-shirt that had growing splotches of blood. Her long ebony hair was tied into a bun, and Katara noticed a rather strange symbol on the back of her neck.

As Katara leaned even more forward, so her head was sticking out of the dresser, and saw the symbol was burnt into her skin, as if she's been branded like livestock. The symbol was shaped roughly like a table, yet Katara knew it was something more, maybe a letter of some sort...

"What are you doing here?"

Her orotund voice was hard to describe, yet sounded hostile and furious. Katara felt her blood freeze, mind racing. _Oh no, did she see me? _Katara thought, mind racing. _What do I do!?_

"Leave me alone," The person turned to the door, and Katara saw an extremely familiar crimson ringed eye. "I have to go call General How."

_This person...this girl...she's the Blind Bandit? _Katara thought, baffled. _But, she's younger than me, I sort of expected a General to be a bit older... _

By the tone in the girl's voice, Katara just knew she wasn't talking to her. The Stray strained her ears, but couldn't hear anything besides the Bandit as it said once more, "I said, leave me alone—"

The Bandit's sentence was abruptly cut off, as if someone else interrupted her. Katara watched in confusion as the Bandit's eyes shut and both hands curled into fists. With a roar of frustration, the Bandit rounded back to the mirror and slammed her hands onto the counter, and Katara cringed at the cracking of the counter and the noticeable red spots growing on the fresh bandages.

"SHUT UP! I told you, leave me the fuck alone will you?" The Bandit roared at the mirror, and Katara finally realized that she wasn't talking to the Stray, but to the mirror itself. The Bandit seethed with anger, glaring at the mirror but was silent as if waiting for someone to stop speaking. In the moments of silent, the Bandit's hands curled her hands into fists once more and sighed, "If this is another one of your sick jokes, Abaddon, I'm not up to it. I'm already on edge. Just _get out of here_."

The Stray began questioning the Bandit's sanity as she grumbled, "Yeah, so what of him?"

The Stray felt like she was intruding on something private, and she won't want to interrupt such a violent schizophrenic episode. Moderately and cautiously, Katara stepped out silently onto the papers. The Bandit didn't notice Katara as she roared at the mirror, "Fuck you motherfucker! I had you beat."

Stepping slowly across the papers, Katara rotated her head slightly to see if the Bandit noticed her, and the Stray froze at the sight.

Blood.

A lot of it.

The Bandit's bandaged arm was horribly red, droplets of blood dripping off of the wrappings from the re-opened wounds. Katara watched in shocked silence as the Bandit began shaking and hid her head with her hands while screaming, "NO! You fucking bitch, WHY!?"

And, unexpectedly, the Bandit's eyes rolled to the back of her head and her knees gave out, collapsing onto the tiled floor with a _thud_.

Without another thought, Katara ran over to the unconscious warrior who was shaking uncontrollably. Kneeling down next to the schizophrenic, Katara hesitantly, rolled the Bandit onto her back, and Katara gasped.

The Bandit, in Katara's opinion, was much too young to have killed the men only hours before. The Bandit was a year or two younger than Katara herself, and was trembling uncontrollably. From blood loss or from shock, Katara couldn't tell, yet the Stray wouldn't let the Bandit bleed to death.

Katara threw the metal arm over her shoulder, and straining with the surprising weight of the metal, half-carried half-dragged the Bandit to lean against the wall. The Stray went to the cabinet and went to work.

* * *

_Confusion was evident on Toph's face as the shouting became louder and strong words she didn't know were added to the verbal fire. Her parents, her mother hysterical and panicked and her father indifferent and furious, were arguing with the hologram in the other room while Toph sat right next to the door; ear pressed against the carved wood while Toph's other ear could hear screams, shouts, and other horrible things coming from the open window. Occasionally, the sound of gunfire reached her ears, causing her to shudder involuntarily._

_Hearing only fragments of the conversation, even two-year-old's advanced mind could barely understand._

"_...Lord Ozai...ridiculous...why...this...we'll pay money..."_

"_...we can't go...Toph..._ _monocular blindness..."_

"_SILENCE!"_

_The new, authoritarian voice ceased the argument, and it was silent in the room for a few seconds; Toph leaned even more into the door to listen and ignoring the horrible cataclysm going on outside. The same powerful voice continued, voice clearer than her parents due to difference in volume:_

"_I am completely aware of your daughter's condition and your extraordinary wealth, Mr. and Mrs. Bei Fong, but, unfortunately, if we keep all three of you, the risk of overpopulation along with depletion of our already descending amount of recourses. It pains me to say this, but we _have_ to remove you Badgermoles. It's not an easy decision, old friend, but whether I choose between _hundreds of people_ to _the survival of mankind_, I had to choose more of the latter."_

_A dread filled silence filled the room for a moment as a horrible heart-wrenching scream of pain coming from outside. Once the scream ended, the voice suddenly continued, "Although...since you are an old friend of mine, Lao, and you have such a high position in Eden, we could save you...but with a price."_

"_W-what do you want? Please, please, we'll give you anything!"_

_Her father's voice was cracking out of pure fear and Toph could hear her mother's quiet sobs, and the 2-year-old gulped and strained her ears to listen._

"_Your daughter...Toph...she is blind, am I correct?"_

"_N-no, not exactly, s-she's only blind in o-one eye."_

_Silence almost oozing in tension caused Toph to sweat and tremble in anticipation._

"_I can order the cyborgs to spare you and your wife, Lao, in exchange for one thing..."_

"_Y-yes...?"_

_Toph could picture the man leaning forward and his voice lowering, saying the simple sentence:_

"_In exchange, we will take your daughter."_

* * *

Zuko swore vigorously as a dozen warriors dressed in green, yet obviously bulletproof, armor and faces painted white leapt onto the deck, and half of them had large, platinum cylinder-shaped jets strapped to their backs. _Jetpacks, _Zuko thought, scowling. He head the door below him slam, and he knew Jee had escaped into the ship, most likely to ready the drowsy crew. _Why did they have to attack at 9 at night? _He thought, scowling even more. Without hesitation, he brought his hands down to the controls of the guns, fingers automatically on the flashing buttons, only to watch as the warriors closest to the exposed sentry guns to literally jump onto the top of each of them; slamming circular bombs onto the flat metal and bonded off of the mounted firearms.

The bombs glow an eerie crimson, and Zuko ducked down the exact moment the explosion caused the ship to tremble and quake, and the ship seemed to moan from the shaking, immediately getting the attention from the rest of the crew if the alarms had not already. The tinted red glass above him cracked and burst, blasting shards of glass all over the nearly empty control room. He heard and saw gunshots begin to fire and bullets flew over his head and lodged themselves in the ceiling. The teenager grabbed the M249 light machine gun hidden underneath the controls and wrapped his fingers around the flashbang at his belt and smirked.

He sat up, back against the metal control panel's thick stand, machine gun pressed against his chest, and stun grenade in his sweating hands. _They're here for the Stone, _he thought, eyes narrowing. _So Uncle was right about the Badgermoles being back. _He gritted his teeth and pulled the pin of the grenade and chucked it over his head and out the window. The seconds seemed to slow as the gunfire stopped for a mere second, the attackers startled by the bomb. He saw a bright white flash illuminate the room for a moment and, wasting absolutely no time, Zuko scrambled to his feet and began firing at everything the color green, taking down two of the stunned assailants down until he saw the others were gone. His eyes widened and he grabbed the machine gun, running to the door.

"They're in the ship...!"

* * *

"_W-what?" _

"_Did I stutter, Lao? Let me say it again: I will allow you and your wife to live, if you give us your daughter. Think about it, Lao. You and your wife have very important positions in our society, yet barely anyone knows about your daughter. Excuse me for saying this, but no one would notice, and her sacrifice could help the rest of mankind."_

"_H-how...why..."_

"_Either that, or we could just take all of you to the camp together, stopping the overpopulation. But if you choose to give up your daughter, all you have to do is stop having any more offspring. Either she goes, or you all go."_

_The sounds of death outside were forgotten as Toph heard her mother make a sound as if she was choking on her own tears, which she probably was. Lao then asked, voice cracking, "S-so, either my entire family dies...or just my daughter dies? You're giving me such a horrible decision?!"_

_A moment of silence, then the voice solemnly said: "Yes. I'm so sorry, Lao."_

_Unexpectedly, the dreaded noise of pounding came from the door and a somewhat robotic voice shouted from outside, "OPEN THE DOOR!"_

_Toph could hear the voice sadly sigh as it said, "Lao, you may have to hurry up on that decision." _

* * *

"GUYS! GUYS! WE'RE UNDER ATTACK! WAKE UP YOU FAT-ASSES, THERE ARE BADGERMOLES OUTSIDE JUST WAITING TO FUCK YOUR CORPSES!"

The last sentence caused the sleepy crew's eyes to widen and dilate, and suddenly they were swarming around like flies around a dead carcass, each hastily putting on their bulletproof red armor, which had the circular image of a golden roaring lion on their shoulders and chest, and helmets, while others ran around, trying to find a weapon. Jee was bombarded with questions about what guns to use.

Expectedly, the Lieutenant exchanged his panic with anger, shouting at the terrified and inexperienced soldiers, "I don't care what weapon you use as long as you're able blast some heads!"

The moment he finished his sentence, he already had his gun in his hands and was opening the door, only for the metal door to fly open and smack him in the face, knocking him onto his back. He groaned and Jee noted it had become deathly quiet on the ship, and he turned back to the door, and froze.

Standing at the door was a girl no older then 17-years-old wearing green bullet-proof armor with golden trimmings, face painted white with lines of red above her eyes, and a headdress holding her short auburn hair in place; the gold headdress shaped as a face of an animal that was a cross between a badger and a mole. About nine other female teenagers were grouped behind her, armed with deadly weapons. One Lion soldier behind Jee squeaked in fear, "So there are the weapons..."

In her hands was a rocket launcher pointed at the room, the dark forest green barrel looming right over Jee's petrified form that was sprawled on the ground. The soldiers in the room were frozen in place, staring directly at the rocket instead of the one about to fire it.

The silence was broken by the girl grinning and the moment she pulled the trigger, she said:

"Goodnight, little Lions. When you get to hell, tell them Suki sent you."

* * *

_Toph involuntarily whimpered and brought her arms over her head as the ringing of gunfire multiplied, along with the sound of wood being torn apart, bullet by bullet. The conversation in the room was drowned out by the offending noise, but Toph could hear the voices in the room were shouting, and two of the voices had hysterical and horrified tones to them._

_The seconds felt like hours to the poor girl until a dreaded snap of wood replaced the gunfire and the humming of powerful jets came from downstairs. On instinct, she screamed and turned back to the locked door, pounding on it pointlessly with her small fists, yelling, "Mommy! Daddy! Help, t-they're in the house! Help me!"_

_At the exact moment the humming was right outside the living room door, Toph swore she heard her mother wailing and crying from within the room. Suddenly, a booming, robotic voice from outside ordering, "OPEN THE DOOR NOW OR WE WILL HAVE TO FORCE IT DOWN OURSELVES!"_

_She whimpered, but complied by timidly stumbling to the door, hesitated, reached up to the doorknob, and slowly opened the door._

_The child froze as she stared down the multiple barrels of a machine gun, and the cyborg behind it had pure hatred in its glowing eyes. Her own deafening heartbeat was the only thing she heard as the cyborg spoke, and the two other metal soldiers floated into the room, one with a flamethrower arm and the other with a net launcher arm. _

_The flamethrower cyborg hovered to the door and pounded on it with its metal fist, shouting, "OPEN THE DOOR, NOW!"_

_As it continued pounding, Toph saw cracks appear along the wood and its hinges beginning to tremble and twist. Inside the door, sounds of crying and hysterical pleading were heard until the door finally broke down with a terrible crack, and splinters flying everywhere as the crushed pieces of the wood being pushed aside. A hard metal hand seized the back of Toph's collar and hoisted her into the air as it moved forward to the shattered doorframe, the sound of crying taking up the entire room as they entered._

_The cyborg stopped right in front of the projector, where the hologram of a tall man with brown hair and slight beard. Long red robes with the symbol of the Lion on his shoulders and back, with a headpiece shaped as a lion's head holding his top-knot in place. The man wasn't looking towards them, but Toph's parents, who were cowering in the corner._

_Poppy Bei Fong's eyes were puffy and red, tears causing her make-up to run, not that she cared. She sat on the floor next to her husband, knees pressed to her chest and rocking back in forth in fear and panic. To Toph, she looked like she was going insane._

_Lao Bei Fong stood, frigid and frozen, staring with wide and fearful eyes at the man on the projector. His eyes suddenly shifted from the man to Toph, and his eyes began to water with unshed tears. He stammered, voice cracking, "T-Toph..."_

_Suddenly, the man swiftly turned to the cyborg and Toph, and both of them flinched. Toph found herself eye to eye with the man, golden eyes burning into her green and jade eyes. A sad smile appeared on his face, sympathy and pity evident in his eyes, and he greeted:_

"_Hello, Toph. My name is Ozai Agni, leader and ruler of the City of Eden. And I am truly sorry for the decision I have placed to your parents."_

_Toph squinted, looking deep into his eyes, yet, she could feel he was 'truly sorry'._

_Yet she didn't want to believe it._

* * *

Six Kyoshi warriors cautiously strode down the ship's corridor, weapons drawn and pointed forward, ready to shoot down anything that moved. As they approached the heart of the ship, one of the warrior's ears twitched at the sound of unfamiliar footsteps.

Right behind her.

She whirled around and raised her weapon to her eye, only for nothing to be there. The warrior next to her asked, "What's wrong?"

Confused, she lowered her weapon ever so slightly and replied, "Um, nothing. Let's keep moving."

Her partner nodded and they both followed the others.

Walking forward, a hand suddenly covered her mouth and she felt a hand smash onto the back of her neck; collapsing into her assailants' arms as he carefully and silently lowered the body onto the ground. The man sighed and stood up, loaded AutoMags in both hands.

"How sad," He raised his arms and aimed for the backs of the unsuspecting warrior's heads. "I always thought that such warriors would be more observant."

Iroh Agni grinned. "Oh well."

* * *

**Author's Note – TO BE CONTINUED IN THE NEXT CHAPTER! =D**


	9. Chapter 9 Survivor's Guilt

**Author's Notes – Greetings, comrades! Updates are going to be a bit slower since school is starting... Although I'll actually have more time on my hands during school days since I have more time on the computer than I did during the summer... Strange, isn't it?**

**Also, I actually check how many people read Flipping Table Production's stories...And I really expect more reviews from the 162 of you that read this story...**

**Now, I have a new policy: if I do not receive at least 3 reviews for new chapters, I will not even start working on the next chapter. And no, they cannot all be from the same person. **

**I'm completely aware it has been a long time since I last updated, and for that I truly apologize. My only excuse is that I have taken Angel-of-Energy's advice to heart...and I've started to write a novel based off of the plot of this story. Millions of thanks to Angel-of-Energy, this chapter is for you. I promise you all, I WILL finish this story. I refuse to give up on this story. I will write this story until I collapse.**

* * *

_"What are you talking about? America is not going to be destroyed."_

_"Never?_

_Rome was destroyed, Greece was destroyed, Persia was destroyed, Spain was destroyed._

_All great countries are destroyed. Why not yours?_

_How much longer do you really think your own country will last?_

_Forever?_

_Block the entrances_

_Close the doors_

_Seal the exits_

_'Cause this is war_

_All gave some_

_Some gave all_

_But for what_

_I want to know_

_Carry on_

_Don't mind me_

_All I gave was everything_

_And yet you ask me for more_

_Fought your fight_

_Bought your lie_

_And in return I lost my life_

_What purpose does this serve?_

_A folded flag_

_A purple heart_

_A family all but torn apart_

_I fought with courage to preserve_

_Not my way of life, but yours_

_Carry on_

_Don't mind me_

_All I gave was everything_

_And yet you ask me for more_

_Fought your fight_

_Bought your lie_

_And in return I lost my life_

_What purpose does this serve?_

_The cowards preach from pedestals_

_With words like courage and resolve_

_But what they meant was fuck them all_

_'Cause freedom isn't free_

_They send our daughters and our sons_

_To deserts under burning suns_

_A sacrificial slaughtering to fill_

_The pockets of the weak_

_An artificial enemy_

_Are we so easily deceived?_

_They carry on_

_("You're a shameful opportunist! What you don't understand is that it's better to die on your feet than to live on your knees._

_"You had it backwards. It's better to live on your feet than to die on your knees.")_

_Don't carry on_

_Just walk away_

_How many more sent to their graves_

_In this lesson ignored?_

_I fought your fight_

_Bought your lie_

_And in return I lost my life_

_What purpose does this serve?_

_What purpose did I serve?"_

_- Survivor's Guilt by Rise Against_

* * *

"And I saw six men coming from the direction of the upper gate, which faces north, each with a deadly weapon in his hand. With them was a man clothed in linen who had a writing kit at his side. They came in and stood beside the bronze altar, Ezekiel 9:2."

Startled by the sudden voice, the other five Kyoshi warriors whirled around, weapons ready to fire. Standing next to a seemingly dead Kyoshi warrior was a rather plump old man, who was dressed in red silk robes and had two AutoMags in his hands. His grey hair was tied into a top-knot and his golden eyes gave the impression that he was amused and not at all threatened by the warriors. He moved to raise his own weapons and the warriors flinched, ready to fire.

He chuckled fearlessly and said nonchalantly, "Now, now, no one needs to die..."

"Put the guns down." One of the warriors commanded in a serious tone. The man then laughed and replied, "Now, ladies, you should know one thing: Don't take life too seriously; _no one gets out alive_."

In a blur, the man's hand whipped forward and fired; the bullet flying right past one Kyoshi warrior's head and straight into a fire extinguisher. Once the metal casing was penetrated, a giant cloud of dry chemicals spewed into the hall, making it almost impossible to see.

"Warning to all intruders..." The man announced in an amused tone, and the Kyoshi warriors panicked and flailed around, trying to see anyone or _anything_. "Trespassers will be shot..."

Two gunshots rang out, and two 'thud's followed. The remaining three warriors froze, utterly terrified.

"Survivors will be shot _again_."

Three more gunshots rang out, but only one 'thud' followed and quick footsteps. The man raised an eyebrow and stepped forward; right out of the chemical cloud. He removed the fogged up glasses from his face and placed them back in his pocket, and looked at the metal floor to see a trail of blood droplets on the ground.

Grinning, he advanced slowly down the hall, following the trail. Singing:

"We all live in a flying submarine...a flying submarine...a flying submarine..."

* * *

"_I-I...W-we accept y-your offer, Lord Ozai."_

_Toph froze, and Ozai turned back to Lao. The hologram then asked, "Are you sure?"_

_Trembling, Toph turned to see her father, usually standing strong and straight, now tears rolling down his face and shaking with fear and sadness like a coward. The cyborg holding Toph shook his head in disappointment, and Ozai's expression turned into disgust._

"_Sacrificing your child to save yourself, and not even going with her to be together in death...what a shame..." Ozai muttered; his voice low enough for only Toph and the cyborg to hear. At that point, Toph finally felt the tears rolling down her face as Ozai sighed and proclaimed, "Very well. Cyborg Hei Bai, take her to the others."_

_Poppy then let out a bloodcurdling scream as if she was being torn apart, and lunged towards the cyborg holding her daughter. The cyborg, Hei Bai, noticeably flinched as Lao grabbed her by the waist, trying to calm his crying and screaming wife. _

_"She's almost blind...weak...we're more deserving than her..." Toph heard her father murmur into her mother's ear, yet Poppy continued screaming as Hei Bai carried her out of the room. Toph remained silent with shock as she was carried down the stairs , not responding as the cyborg switched her position by balancing her over his cold, unfeeling shoulder._

_As Toph was carried out the door, she turned to her street and saw what all the noise was, and her eyes widened in horror. _

_Large, hovering trucks filled the street, people being herded, shoved, and thrown into the trucks without a second thought. Dead bodies of those that resisted lined the sidewalks, and blood pooled all over the ground. Buildings around them were either burning or being raided, the screams and crashes proving the point._

_As the two approached a temporarily empty truck, Toph heard the cyborg say in a deeply accented voice, "I'm very sorry, Miss Bei Fong."_

_Toph squeezed her eyes shut and she whispered, "Why did they just give up on me?"_

_The cyborg was silent as he opened the back of the empty truck and carefully placed her down, as if even holding her would make her shatter in his giant metal hands (the gun placed at his side). Toph sniffled, and she felt one metal finger wipe away the tears under her eyes, and she opened her eyes and saw the cyborg looking down at her with uttermost pity, like a saddened pet owner having to put down his dying puppy._

"_To be human is to have human nature. Human nature is always the same it breeds pain, death, suffering, conflict, and war. Because they are human, they shall kill. Because they are human, they shall destroy. Because they are human, they will survive. Because they are human, they will evolve. Because they are human, they shall live...and you will die."_

"_But...am I not human?"_

_Hei Bai thought for a second, and then replied:_

"_I truly do hope the next time we meet, the scientists have decided for you to remain human, Miss Bei Fong. Because the things I've seen made from Lion Laboratories are Hell's worst abominations. Maybe...Death may even be the better option."_

_As the door slid shut, the truck was engulfed with darkness. _

_At that moment, Toph Bei Fong felt truly, and utterly alone. _

* * *

Zuko cautiously strode down the metal corridor, flinching and pointing his light machine gun at every sound. His footsteps rang off the walls and floor, making his heart beat wildly and ears strain for any other sound.

Right when he was about to turn a corner, the gun was abruptly kicked out of his hands and punched him to the face.

Falling to his knees, he shook of the feeling on fear and tried to reach for the gun on the ground, only for a boot to stomp on his hand. He tried to look up at his attacker only for it to knee him in the eye and fall onto his back.

One of the two Kyoshi warriors stood over him, and pointed the machine gun right between his eyes. He saw pure hatred in the fighter's eyes, and he felt a great wave of fear roll through him. Suddenly, a voice ring in his ears:

"_Get UP, Prince Zuko!"_

The familiar, disembodied voice seemed to snuff out his feeling of fear, and the Kyoshi warrior's finger was just about to press the trigger. His hand subconsciously caught the gun's barrel with lightning speed and shoved it away from him the second the warrior began firing. Bullets pelted the metal next to him, making a horrible ringing noise in all their ears, catching both Kyoshi warriors off guard.

Taking the advantage, Zuko kicked the Kyoshi warrior's legs, causing her to fall over as he leapt upward. Once the warrior fell, he didn't hesitate to slam his fist to the back of her neck, and the other warrior behind Zuko threw her armored arm around his neck and held him back. The combatant on the ground wasted no time standing and began kicking Zuko repeatedly in the abdomen.

After the fifth blow, he felt bile and blood rise and his throat, and whipped his head back, breaking the other warrior's nose. The second he felt the arm's grip loosen, he whirled around and punched her right in the face.

The former warrior that was kicking him tried to throw another punch at him, just for Zuko to effectively shove her back, making her fall on her back. Right next to the gun.

Hearing the sound of scraping metal, Zuko turned to see the standing warrior, who now had a bloody, bruised broken nose, brandishing two steel knives and twirling them menacingly at him. The moment she tried to cut him to pieces, he grabbed her hand mid-swing and swung her around, pinning her hands behind the back.

Before the restrained warrior could even move, a huge blast of bullets flew and struck her in the chest, instantly killing her. A clicking sound could be heard as the gun ran out of bullets, and the warrior on the ground tried to stand and run. The moment she stood, a steel knife cut through the air and struck her in the back of the neck, severing her spine.

The body collapsed onto the floor, and Zuko standing a few feet away, ready throw the other knife at any other opponents.

"Good job, Prince Zuko."

He spun around and nearly threw the knife, only to see his Uncle Iroh standing in the corridor, a smile that rivaled the Cheshire Cat's on his face.

"U-Uncle?"

"A very impressive fight there, Zuko." Iroh commented, walking forward and Zuko calmed considerably, seeing the slight stains of blood on his uncle's clothes. Zuko hesitantly asked, "Did you take care of the rest of them?"

"That's more of a statement than question." Iroh replied, inspecting the bodies. "Except, one of them fired a missile into our crew's quarters and was heading for the containment chamber."

"W-wha-THEN WHY HAVEN'T YOU GONE AFTER HER?" Zuko suddenly screamed. Iroh didn't flinch at his nephew's outburst and turned over one of the bodies and saw it still its eyes open. Closing the body's hollow eyes, Iroh simply said, "It's because she's already in there."

* * *

"_Maybe...Death may even be the better option."_

Slowly, the scene of the truck faded, as if Abaddon was finished showing her the memory. She felt confused and even...furious, at Abaddon, for resurfacing so much pain. _What did that dream mean?_ Toph thought, eyebrows knitting together. _What could Abaddon possibly want me to realize from these flashbacks...? Why me? What the hell?_

Toph then tried to move her hands, and heard a startled grasp. Her mismatched eyes then shot open, and the first thing she immediately noticed was that she was coated in sweat and breathing heavily, as if she was running a marathon. Vision clearing, she looked around, trying to find out where she was.

In a moment, she recognized she was sitting, body propped against the wall, in her bathroom. A small clump of horribly bloodied bandages hung from the sink, and when Toph saw them she winced at the sudden pain from her only real arm. Raising her left arm to her face, her eyes widened.

As she suspected, someone had replaced her bandages, yet her hand was still uncovered, and Toph's eyes narrowed at the mangled bloody mess that was her hand. Noticing the bandages were beginning to unravel, Toph's metal hand reached over to finish it, only for a frightened voice to squeak:

"D-don't touch that! You'll hurt yourself."

Both blind pale green and electrical crimson eyes widened at the voice, and a memory flashed across Toph's vision, one of a certain young girl, who had brown eyes and black hair with a slight lisp, and got into a new crush every week. A certain girl Toph swore to a dying woman she'd protect, and ended up getting her arm blasted off.

Toph stiffened at the memory, as the image of the girl suddenly shifted, and was then covered in blood, screaming into Toph's ears:

"_You said you'd protect me...You promised Aunt Wu...You PROMISED!"_

Toph clamped her hand over her ears and let out a blood-curdling scream as another wave of sheer pain and visions flooded through her mind. Shutting her eyes, she could still hears the girl's screaming and shouting at her, and the image of the bloodied girl never leaving her vision, even with eyes closed.

Then, she felt two hands grab her shoulders.

Out of pure instinct, Toph felt a huge blast of pent up rage flow through her and she grabbed the person's wrists and twisted them; not enough to break them, but enough to inflict pain. Once Toph heard the person's pained cry, she jumped onto her feet and pinned the person to the wall behind her.

Using her bandaged arm to pin the person against the wall, she reared her metal arm back and unsheathed the blade, ready to stab through the person's head. The person's shouts and cries were muffled by the inexistent screaming Toph could hear. Just before Toph stabbed through the person's head, Toph felt the person's weight shift, and something unexpected happened.

_SMACK!_

...

...

Toph's eyes slowly opened, noticing the screaming had stopped, and she felt a nagging sting on her right cheek. She heard someone else's heavy breathing behind her arms, and Toph suddenly realized what happened. Toph hastily removed her arm form the person, and Toph immediately sheathed the blades, the blades quickly retracting into her metal arm.

The person slumped to the floor, grasping their throat and gasping for breath, and Toph leaned back against the sink, head in hands, trying to clear her mind. Toph them moved her hands away, and saw the person she had almost killed.

"L-_little sheep_...?"

* * *

Suki hastily plugged the tiny flash drive into the side of the key code controls, and the buttons flashed the brilliant color blue as it hacked the door open. The leader Kyoshi warrior shuddered as she heard gunshots echo through the halls, and Suki could almost tell she was the only one left.

"No, they can't be dead..." Suki muttered to herself, trying to suppress her feelings of sadness. "They just _can't _be dead..."

The key pad suddenly gave a ringing _beep_, along with hissing pressurized air coming out of the metal door in front of her. The door cracked open, and steam blasted out of the thin fissure. As the door slowly slid open, more steam rolled out.

Unnatural, blinding light hit Suki in the face along with the steam, and Suki subconsciously covered her eyes with her forearm. As her eyes adjusted to the right, she strode forward into the circular room, holding her breath.

Once her eyes adjusted, she lowered her eyes, and gasped.

In the center of the circular room, stood a metal pedestal, and on the top was a small glass dome. Inside the dome was a unnerving, small, multifaceted blood-red stone. The reason it was unnerving, was that it was _floating_. Floating, and glowing an eerie crimson light.

The light seemed to be...pulsating. Like a person's heartbeat.

The Lapis Philosophorum.

Suki hesitantly took a step forward, and the floating stone's light suddenly stopped pulsing. She took another step, and the light dimmed ever so slightly. As she strode forward, the light got dimmer and dimmer.

When Suki stood right in front of it, the light was almost gone, all except a tiny, almost pitiful glow. With ease, Suki raised her gun, and smashed the glass.

Loud, blaring sirens sounded as Suki took a hand-sized metal cylinder canister out of her pocket and scooped the stone out of midair and hurriedly snapped the lid onto the container.

"So much work for a _Philosopher's Stone_..."

* * *

**Philosopher's Stone - (Latin: lapis Philosophorum) is a legendary alchemical substance said to be capable of turning base metals (lead, for example) into gold (chrysopoeia) or silver. It was also sometimes believed to be an elixir of life, useful for rejuvenation and possibly for achieving immortality. For many centuries, it was the most sought-after goal in Western alchemy. The philosopher's stone was the central symbol of the mystical terminology of alchemy, symbolizing perfection at its finest, enlightenment, and heavenly bliss. Efforts to discover the philosopher's stone were known as the Magnum Opus.**


End file.
